Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

The Streamys!

I think it was obvious that the Streamys, honoring web-based television, is not your mother's Awards Show. For one thing, this was only the production's second year.

I really noticed the difference between the two in the days leading up to the red carpet. Preparation to attend the Academy Awards was intense. I had to go through a security check weeks ahead of time... just to sit on the bleachers before the show. And while I was never exactly sure what to expect when I got there, the information I did receive was pretty detailed.

Besides, it was the OSCARS. I didn't need a lot of background on the nominees; the movies get plenty of media coverage.

With the Streamys, I got the feeling that they were making it up as they went along. Information was slow in coming and when I did get it, it seemed incomplete. 

On the other hand, when I arrived at the Orpheum Theater on Sunday, I was greeted by staffers who were actually friendly. You can tell that this isn't just a job to them - there are a lot of people working here who are passionate about being on the ground floor of a brave new media world, and that's really cool.

We felt the same positive energy when we got out to the red carpet. I haven't yet mastered the art of camcording myself for the purpose of blogging, so was relieved when my new BFF (and fellow Los Angeles Mom Blogger) Bernadette agreed to team up with me. She's an experienced actor and comedian, (and is gorgeous to boot!), so it was a no-brainer to hand her the mic and let her go. (I've always been more comfortable behind the scenes anyway).

I admire Bern because unlike me, she can think on her feet. Just prior to our red carpet setup, we were given a huge packet with the names and photos of 73 nominees plus 41 OTHER attendees. 

I was surprised to discover how many well known actors and personalities were expected to attend. I checked off the ones that would impress my husband (who had not been happy Sunday morning that I was going to be away for the day): Ileana Douglas, Justine Bateman, Wil Wheaton, Cheri Oteri, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley, Jr.,Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Robert Englund, "Weird Al," Keanu Reeves, Jaleel White, David Faustino, Greg Grunberg and Patrick Duffy.

I don't know how many of those folks did show up - I can tell you that few of them made it to our spot on the red carpet. The best-known one we did get to interview was Duffy, which was great for me because my husband was a HUGE fan of "Dallas"... and I had actually sort of met him before... back in 1986, when he guest hosted on the Tonight Show. No, he did not remember me delivering script pages to him in his dressing room, but he remembered the event, and I got the feeling it was a painful memory because he said he was so nervous that night.

It didn't show. He was totally professional... and really nice. And you know what? Patrick Duffy is still nice. He even posed with me so I could send a photo to my fanboy husband.

I wish I had been as familiar with the rest of the red carpet arrivals. Thankfully, each guest who came down the red carpet was preceded with an aide carrying a placard that stated who the person was and why he or she was there.

But without seeing their work, I was at a loss at what to ask them.

Since I'm a "mommy blogger," I thought I'd go the Jewish mother route and ask if their moms were proud of their nominations. But one of the Kodak reps had a better idea: Her standard question is "What was your most memorable Kodak moment?"

It's a wonderful question, and Bern ran with it. EVERYONE we approached seemed to enjoy answering, and they even seemed happy to be talking to "mommy bloggers," as you can see from this clip:

Embarassingly, I did not know who these wonderful people are! I did NOT get their names on video at the beginning of this clip, I don't recognize their faces on the cheat sheet we received and I've been searching the web for a nominated show with a robot for the last 30 minutes, and can't find them. I'm hoping someone will see this and tell me so I can credit them - because they were so cute!

UPDATE: Someone named Jake commented on this clip over at YouTube and told me they are Casey McKinnon and Rudy Jahchan and got nominated for A Comic Book Orange. Now that I know who they are and what they were nominated for, I've got to go see their stuff. They're adorable.

I learned quickly just how tough it is to be a camera person at a live event (as evidenced in the clip above). I did take film classes when I was in college, and camera work was NOT my forte (one of the reasons I quickly switched my focus to writing). I did my best trying to Bern and the subjects in frame without shaking the little camera too much, but I'm afraid I wasn't always successful, and at one point during a really great interview, my screen went black. One of the Kodak ladies figured out that I'd had my finger over the lens.

OOPS.

This is reminiscent of our old home movies, all of which have shots of my dad's nose as he used to check a gauge in front of the camera with it still running.

Fortunately, I was mindful of the position of my finger from that point on. It's just too bad we lost that particular clip.

We ended the day with something like 35 video clips, and one of the reasons I'm this late in posting about it is that it took me the rest of the evening and all of yesterday to upload them - UNEDITED, AND UN-TITLED - to YouTube. And since my connection kept dying in my home yesterday.. I'm still not finished.

This was my first time working in HD (we were using Kodak's newest pocket Zi8 camcorder, and it's awesome... several of the video directors we interviewed told us they used it too!)

Web TV makes me all tingly, because I'm reminded of the early 80's, when MTV launched and music videos were the Hot New Thing. Low budgets fostered creativity, and it was obvious that this was a New Art Form. It was like the wild west, and very exciting. I had the same feeling again in the late '90's, after the introduction of Mozilla and the World Wide Web began developing rapidly.

Web TV is kind of like that. Although a lot of the nominated series were underwritten by corporations (and so had enough budget to display professional production values), there were plenty of nominees who got there by the dint of pure creative energy...AND the winners were decided by viewers who voted online. If these technologies had been available 30 years ago, I would so be trying to be part of this world, because it's still something of a level playing field.

At any rate, it was nice to be visiting it... and terribly exciting.

DISCLOSURE: I was not compensated to write this post. I received press credentials to attend the Streamys as a guest of Kodak, who is a major sponsor of the show. I did receive a Zi8 camcorder to use on the red carpet, as well as a small digital camera and digital frame...BOTH OF WHICH I'm giving away this week on my Review Site, SoCal Stuff - click here to find out more and enter the drawing.

Meet Me at the Streamys!

I'm getting ready for my close-up as a red carpet correspondent at the Streamy Awards, so this post will be brief.

It's ironic that I got professional makeup for my gig as a "Bleacher Fan" at last month's OSCARS... but have to do my own today (and get all dressed up, to boot).

That's just one of the differences between attending the Mother of All Awards shows and an upstart honoring web-based entertainment. I figure the coverage will have a guerrilla-style approach... beginning with the fact that the celebrities arriving on the red carpet will be interviewed by bloggers armed with pocket HD camcorders.

I am told there will be Internet access in the press room, and this time, I've been invited to bring my laptop... so I plan to have some clips posted once the red carpet arrivals have been seated and the festivities begin.  And starting at 6:00 Pacific time, you can watch the show live online (naturally!) on the Streamys website, here.

In the meantime, PLEASE enter my drawing at SoCal Stuff for the popcorn popper. I'm announcing a winner tomorrow... as I start another drawing for some more cool prizes, courtesy of Kodak.

DISCLOSURE: I am receiving my press credential at the invitation of Kodak, who also provided me with a Zi8 camcorder and an M530 EasyShare digital camera, which I will be using to document this event. They also sent me a Pulse electronic picture frame to display the photos I am taking there. I am receiving no monetary compensation for my participation at the Streamys.

Final Words About OSCAR: My Extreme Makeover

Have I mentioned recently how much I love my LA blogging colleague, Sweatpants Mom?

She's funny as hell... and fun, too. And on Saturday morning, she informed me she'd arranged for a professional to make us up... would I be interested?

Like I said... she's funny as hell. OF COURSE I WAS INTERESTED. Because THIS is what I look like on a good day.

So I wasn't surprised when - after sending over a photo of myself - our makeup artist asked that I show up at 7:00 AM. For our 10:30 call.

I've been around on TV sets and have witnessed the miracle of good makeup. But it can only do so much.

Fortunately, we were in the very skilled and talented hands of Marygene, who has no business looking this beautiful so early on a Sunday morning.

And when she was done, we looked pretty good, too:

And amazingly, the makeup stayed looking fresh ALL DAY... even after sitting in the hot sun for hours on end.

This is something I want to do the next time I've been invited to a big event. I've officially gotten to the point where I need a professional to help me look good.

Note the picture at right: the Kodak bloggers sent me these Top Ten Tips for Looking Great in Photos and I actually remembered a few of them! For once, I'm really happy with the way a picture of me turned out.

Final Words About OSCAR: Bleacher Bums

A week before the OSCARS each year, the city blocks off all the streets leading to the Kodak Theatre so the Academy can set up for the show. So we knew we'd have to be dropped off a few blocks away from Hollywood and Highland on Sunday morning.

It was weird. Hollywood Boulevard was deserted, aside from a few folks who had come early to check out the scene. By the time the limos started arriving, there was a crowd gathered on the street east of Highland.

We were a half hour early for our 10:30 call and wondered if we needed to look for an open coffee shop to kill some time, but the Cheeky Lotus texted Sweatpants Mom to let her know that she and Sugar Jones were already in.

We had printouts in hand of the numerous emailed instructions we'd received from the Academy, so we knew that security would be tight. But we didn't know what else to expect: like the fact that the OSCAR people (who were responsible for the seating arrangements) would separate us by a pretty large distance. In fact, we bloggers were kind of all over the place, with a few in choice seats near the red carpet entrance.

We had a pretty good section, too - but the seats assigned to Lotus, Sugar and me were in the corner of the very top row... making it difficult to get a good angle to snap a photo. And I'd thought part of the fun of the day was to come away with bragging rights to some amazing celebrity photos.

But hey - we were there... and it didn't take me long to realize that there was an advantage to being up at the top: The clear plastic rain cover over the red carpet area magnified the sun's rays to such an extent that it was swelteringly hot out. But in our spot, if we stood up, we could catch a breeze.

Still, it didn't take me long to realize that I didn't need the heavy coat I'd brought. Or the light jacket I was wearing over the black racerback tee with sparklies I'd selected (with the evening in mind). I was grateful for the souvenir t-shirt the Academy handed out as part of our bleacher fan goodie package. And the baseball cap. And the sunscreen and lip balm. So I went from glam to fan...

But it WAS a long day. The "light breakfast" the Academy promised us turned out to be a two-pack of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and as tempting as they were, I passed on those. So I was famished by the time they started handing out box lunches. I devoured my turkey sandwich and apple and was still hungry, so I tore into the potato chips. So much for the low carb diet.

But I did manage to drink about a gallon of water, and was sweating so much, I only needed to hit the porta potty once. (I know you really needed to hear that. But this was a point of pride, as the line to use them was long and the security people kept reminding us that they wanted us to STAY IN OUR SEATS once the red carpet arrivals began.)

About the time we finished our lunches, lovely Jenny from Kodak managed to make some room in the section where Sweatpants Mom was sitting with other Kodak staffers. Lotus and Sugar moved down there, but I didn't want to give up my breeze at the top, so I stayed. I think Jenny felt bad that I was up there all alone, because an hour later, she told me she'd arranged to move me to the first section, where the rest of the eleven Kodak bloggers were seated.

She was as surprised as we were that we hadn't been assigned spots together, but the Academy explained that only the guests that had been cleared to bring their computers had been identified as "bloggers" and so they had the prime spots in the first row in the first section. Jenny begged the  Academy rep to make room for just one more.

It was obvious she didn't want to do this. It was also obvious that there was room on the seating chart. Once again, I was assigned the top row, but there weren't as many rows in this section, so it was closer. And I was on the aisle, so I had a better angle.

And now, I was finally able to greet the other bloggers: Katja Presnal, Rock and Roll Mama, Miss Lori, Wayne Sutton and the Consumer Queen. (I never did meet Steve Garfield and Zadi Diaz- but hopefully, our paths will cross again.)

Countdown to the OSCARS(R): A Long Day Ahead

Poor Miss Lori. She got in late last night from Chicago and has an inexplicable 7:45 AM call time this morning.

Most of the rest of us don't have to get there until 10:30. For a parade of celebrities and lesser-known movie folks who don't start showing up until around 3:00.

But I'm up early, anyway. That's because Sweatpants Mom (who is my carpool buddy) has arranged for a makeup artist for the two of us. The makeup artist took one look at our photos and decided she needed several hours to make us Red Carpet ready. So at 6:00 AM, I'm sitting here in my new sparkly top and going through email for one last time before I leave for her house.

I want to remind you all that we are making this big fuss for a day when we are sitting out on the BLEACHERS. Here's how our seating looked last night, from Kodak's own Flickr Photostream:

Megan and I had a girls' day yesterday -- she needs things for her Washington trip later this month, and I needed a new tote bag I could use today to hold all my stuff (all of my other ones are emblazoned with corporate logos.

Once we check in to the bleacher area, we may not leave until the show begins at 5:00 -- or we will lose our seats. They are providing us with breakfast, lunch & beverages and we're told there will be rest room facilities (i.e., porta-potties). They suggested we bring snacks in the one bag we are allowed to have.

As it is, my new Target tote is filled to the brim with: 

• File of communications from Kodak & the Academy so they'll let me in
• My cellphone (so I can tweet)
• Two still cameras and a pocket camcorder
• Extra batteries
• A battery operated recharger for electronics listed above
• Wallet & keys
• Sundry items (hand lotion, Advil, lipstick, mirror, etc)

It's heavy - but that's OK. Carrying it is the only exercise I'll have today.

Follow my tweets and those of the other Kodak Red Carpet "Bleacher Bums" here.