Oscar Friends

You come to this town with a dream. To stand on that red carpet.  To feel like you belong.  To be in the mix with Hollywood's elite. That ride means nothing unless you are celebrating amongst friends.  This post is a tribute to all of my friends who joined me on that red carpet last Sunday.  I love that you were there with me......

Me and James Molnar of The Gold Knight.

Misty Kingma, fellow Red Carpet Report entertainment reporter, and me.

Me and Taryn Southern who was broadcasting for US Weekly.

Me and Dennis Pastorizo of Terra Networks.

The man behind the camera, JD Piche, thanks for all of your hard work last week!

My awesome pal, Jordan Carson, from WOTV-4, Grand Rapids.

Me and Blake Mitchell.

Riding on the Goodyear Blimp!

I fly all of the time for work, so I am accustomed to being "up in the air".  In fact, I've flown on United Airlines 22 times this year.  That doesn't include the additional flights I've taken with American, Southwest, Delta, Continental,  Spirit, and US Air this year.  So, as familiar as I am with the friendly skies, I was thrilled to try out a new form of transportation for a trip around LA, on The Spirit of America, the Goodyear Blimp.  We had the opportunity to fly in the airship as a part of our Behind the Scenes series with Mingle Media TV.  Captain Matt piloted us through the cloudy skies and I might have been a bit smitten with our "Captain Handsome".  (Yep, he had a nickname within the first 15 minutes of meeting him.)

  

The flight was pretty incredible despite a bit of marine layer and the blimp engines were a bit nosier than I expected.  Captain Matt even had a little fun with a us with a blimp trick or two that I managed to catch on video.  I will post our behind the scenes video early next week.  In the meantime, enjoy the photos up in the air and on the ground.  It truly was an opportunity of a lifetime....... 

Any chance to advertise Godspell is a good one.....even in a blimp!

 Love my hair sticking straight up while JD mugs for the camera.

Me and Captain Handsome post-flight.

A happy leap after a fun day.  Thanks, Goodyear!

Photos are property of Kristyn Burtt and Mingle Media TV.  

An Oscar Nerd's Dream

Me and Luz Pena, winner of the MTVu contest on the red carpet.

I feel like I am going to be showing you Oscar footage for weeks, kids.  There were so many incredible events to share with you, so we are going to kick it off with the MTVu Correspondent Contest.  College students around the country created broadcast submissions to win a spot on the red carpet, backstage in the pressroom, and at the Governor's Ball.  I was fortunate enough to befriend the winner before she and her partner won the entire contest.  Behind the Red Carpet on Mingle Media TV was there to catch all of the action. Congratulations, Luz and Phil!



The excitement continued as I interviewed one of the judges of the contest, Brooke Anderson, host of HLN's Showbiz Tonight.



And finally, my Oscar nerd dream come true:  I interview the accountants from PriceWaterhouseCoopers about how they count the ballots.  I don't think we have ever seen accountants so excited on camera before.  It is my favorite piece that we shot during Oscars Week. (You will also learn some great balloting secrets.)



If you missed my appearance on the Lori and Julia Show from 107.1 FM from Minneapolis, you can listen here:  Monday, February 28th, Hour 1  These gals are my favorite radio duo and I dished a lot about the red carpet foibles, fun, and fashion.

And as always, I leave you with a few more photos from Oscar Sunday:

 Me and my hairstylist, Ozlem Dalgic, post-hair, pre-makeup. (and a glimpse of my pal, Maria, in the mirror.)

 Next up, my makeup artist, Carolina Groppa, gets me all dolled up. The pink bow is holding back my bangs-nice look.  

The man behind all of the awesome footage we shot, JD Piche

My favorite annual post-Oscars date with fellow Oscar nerd, Matt Crabtree. 

After The Nominations

Now that all of the serious coverage of the 83rd Annual Academy Award Nominations is completed, here is a loopy and quick (1 minute. 20 seconds) video made by me and my cameraman, JD Piche of Mingle Media TV, after all of the morning's events.  We had both been up for hours at this point, so forgive my hair and my camera work.  If you are a fan of entertainment news, Nancy O'Dell of ET makes a cameo as well.

I hope to do a few of these videos from time to time, so you can see what it really looks like behind the scenes. (and I promise my shaky camera hand will get stronger.)  Now, I am off to do some Oscar dress shopping with the amazing Roni B. I need to think tall and lean today because these gowns are built for glamazons.  Tall and lean, tall and lean, tall and lean......

Birthday Weekend Fun

After a rough start, my birthday weekend turned out to be pretty fun.  I was supposed to wait until Friday to open my gifts, but I caved from the temptation and ripped them open on Thursday....or was it Wednesday?  Either way, it brightened my day and I have already worn my new bracelet and ring several times.  The photo below is my tribute to every amazing fashion blog out there.  What do I do?  Strike a JC Penney's catalog pose in the bathroom of Bouchon.  Blogs like this and this do it way better than I do.

Here are some other images from my birthday weekend:

Getting dressed in the closet:

Hanging with pals at the IAWTV Holiday Fiesta:

My favorite Nine West boots were the perfect addition to new winter blue sweater from Roni B.:

My neighbors make the best holiday cookies!  Thank you, Whitney and Chris.

Come on back tomorrow for the start of a fantastic holiday makeup giveaway for you!

Remember to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Bloglovin.

Photo #2:  Courtesy of Maria Timolat

Photos #5 & 6:  Courtesy of Brenda White

Fashion's Night Out: Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills

I am actually surprised I haven't seen more posts today from some of my favorite fashion bloggers about last Friday's big event, Fashion's Night Out.  The event was started by Vogue editor-in-chief and fashion guru, Anna Wintour, last year.  It was fashion's own economic stimulus plan that began in NY and has now become a global shopping event in its second year.  I was asked by Mingle Media TV to cover an event thrown by Girls in Tech LA at Saks Fifth Avenue on the big night.  While I was excited to participate, I couldn't begin to imagine how much fun I was about to have.

The 5th floor of Saks was rocking with a DJ spinning tunes, cosmos waiting for the VIP guests, and a tableful of cupcakes waiting to be devoured.  Girls in Tech LA is a terrific group of women who educate, support, and promote women in the tech industry and they sure know how to throw a party.  With a 15% off coupon at Saks tucked into each of the swag bags, we all jumped at the chance to help out a great cause:  Dress for Success.  Saks was donating 5% of the evening's proceeds to the charity that donates professional attire and career support to women who are re-entering the workplace after unemployment.  Other fun distractions included a photo booth and the Alice + Olivia Fall 2010 collection that was sitting just outside of the VIP room.  Here are a few photos from the evening, video interviews to follow later this week:

Delicious cupcakes from Frosted Cupcakery.

With Cooper Harris on the red carpet. Photo courtesy of Kevin Hahn.

With Stephanie Thorpe and our $200,000 jewels.  Thanks , Saks for letting us indulge for a moment. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Thorpe.

It's tough being a guy at a shopping event.  Mingle Media TV producer, JD Piche, stuck with purses, cameras, and iPhones.

Fun in the photo booth with Cooper and JD, all thanks to Photo Booth Mania.

Yep, I bought a dress. Armed with my 15% off coupon, I found this on sale DVF dress for under $200.  Score!

Did any of you attend Fashion's Night Out?  I want to hear about your experience in the comments section below. 

Xbox 360 Kinect

Here's a quick round-up of photos from the Xbox 360 Kinect Launch at the Galen Center tonight at the start of E3 week.  I was kindly invited by Stephanie Piche of Mingle Media TV and I jumped at the chance to check out Cirque du Soleil present the new Microsoft system with flair in a way that only Cirque can.  The presentation did not disappoint:  walking on the ceiling, flying, dancing, and a light show the audience participated in with magical capes.  The idea of a gaming system without an actual controller is cool, but I wasn't super impressed with the games they showed us.  And I am talking about it from a casual gamer point of view.  I've got a Wii and an PS3 in the house, and I felt like Kinect gave me a rehash of the games I already own except for the awesome light saber game for Star Wars. (It also received the largest reaction from the audience.) Regardless, the evening was fun, enjoy the photos below, and Happy E3!

In line, while one of the Cirque drummers keeping us occupied while we wait.........

And wait........

Yep, me still waiting..........look, they finally let me in and I encounter a very tall man.....

We are given our magical capes to wear (Matt Crabtree and JD Piche)

Okay, they are really choir robes:

There was a family suspended from the ceiling and hanging out on a couch.  I wanted that job.....

Your typical Cirque shenanigans during the pre-show:

And my own shenanigans.....drinking virtual water:

                                               

We didn't have seats, until I asked the nicest usher ever.  He found us four seats.  This was our cool view.

Very Simba/Circle of Life/Lion King with the life-sized elephant:

And the reason we wore our capes...we were part of the light show!  Green......

Pink............

......and purple.

Be sure to catch the entire show on MTV on Tuesday, June 15th at 3:30 PM ET/12:30 PT.