{"id":175,"date":"2009-02-22T10:44:07","date_gmt":"2009-02-22T17:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/2009\/02\/22\/175\/"},"modified":"2009-02-22T10:44:07","modified_gmt":"2009-02-22T17:44:07","slug":"oscar-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/2009\/02\/22\/175\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar & Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nCurrent mood:\u00a0\u00a0ecstatic
\nCategory:<\/strong> Movies, TV, Celebrities<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I am working as a Seat Filler at the Oscars today\u2026I job I love and still can\u2019t believe I get to do.
\nMy love affair with\u00a0Oscar began when I was a starry-eyed kid growing up in Sydney, Australia. For days leading up to each new Oscar event, I practiced my Academy Award acceptance speeches in my dad\u2019s bedroom mirror (it was bigger than mine) and although I do remember I gave lengthy thank yous, I can\u2019t recall what they were for. I don\u2019t think it was for writing.
\nThere was a wooden banana in my grandma\u2019s bowl of wooden fruit on the dining table and this was my microphone.
\nI gave up those long, emotive, grateful tirades after getting caught by my brothers and their friends who were outside the bedroom window, laughing their asses off. There they were in our front garden, rolling around the grass making fun of me!
\nTo this day, my brother Alex only has to hold his hand up to his mouth like he is holding a mike and\u00a0I shut up quickly\u2026
\nThe Oscars are of course the Rolls Royce of awards shows and I am amazed how each year they are tweaked and refined, according to the political climate, not to mention the actual climate. We\u2019re expecting rain today so a big tent is up over the red carpet.
\nOwing to the current economic climate, I\u2019m hearing there\u2019s going to be a lot less bling\u2026but don\u2019t bet on it. My friend Dan\u2019s company got the flower gig and he delivered 74,000 blooms in two days.\u00a0I bet the Kodak will be looking amazing by the time I arrive at noon with my credentials, my ID and my limitless patience. It\u2019s a long day until showtime and we must allow for nerves, anger outbursts and constant running.
\nSo much goes into the actual production of the shows it is breathtaking. I respect and remain in awe of the crew men and women who work like dogs without sleep for the final 36 hours\u2026only to start breaking it all down again the moment the show ends.
\nThis year, security is higher than ever and the volunteers who seat fill are old hands at it. two days ago I perused the theater with my friend Mary to collect our credentials and we strolled the aisles, stdying the big pieces of cardboard with celebrity names.
\nThe stars of \u201cSlumdog Millionaire\u201d naturally have the best seats in the house and the celebrity stand-ins portraying them have had fuin making up speeches\u2026just like me and my banana!
\nWe seat fillers\u00a0dress head to toe in black, we remain unobtrusive. One year a girl plastered her website on her back and was sent home. We have strict rules. We are not allowed to attempt to smuggle photos, bios, demo DVDS, demo CDs, books or screenplays into celebrity hands. We do not break into soft shoe routines when we spy P.Diddy and hope for a cameo in one of his videos.
\nWe are in fact, lucky if a celebrity we are sitting next to chats with us, but mostly, they ignore us. I remember one year Sting and his wife were fantastic and so was Orlando Bloom, who was intrigued to see us charging around from seat to seat so the camera wouldn\u2019t pan to an empty chair. He was down to earth and lovely.
\nOne year I sat in front of\u00a0the actor Richard Crenna (since sadly departed) and I turned and gushed that\u00a0I was a fan. He was not rude. Well\u2026he was, sort of. He was simply non responsive.\u00a0He looked me right in the eye and completely ignored me. I was crushed.\u00a0I can\u2019t watch that episode of I Love Lucy<\/em> where\u00a0he is the \u201cYoung Fan\u201d and look at him the same way.
\nI\u2019ve seen startlets poaching cigarettes froms seat fillers, a couple of actors snorthing coke in the\u00a0john\u2026I\u2019ve seen actresses look so stunning in person in their sweeping couture\u2026yet on film it looks hideous. I\u2019ve seen hideous dresses that photograph like sunshine.
\nI am still that starry-eyed kid from Australia who loves movies and loves the celebration of them.
\nIt\u2019s\u00a0Oscar time. My banana microphone and I are ready.
\nAloha oe,
\nA.J.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\nCurrently\u00a0listening:
\nSeul<\/font><\/strong><\/a>
\nBy\u00a0Garou
\nRelease date:\u00a02000-11-13<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Current mood:\u00a0\u00a0ecstatic Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities I am working as a Seat Filler at the Oscars today\u2026I job I love and still can\u2019t believe I get to do. My love affair with\u00a0Oscar began when I was a starry-eyed kid growing up in Sydney, Australia. For days leading up to each new Oscar event, I practiced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebrities","category-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}