Archive for the ‘Oscars’ Category

Pictures Marie-Joelle Parent

5:10 — Donald Trump, Natalie Portman, and Mark Wahlberg closed the red carpet. The last 30 minutes have been so intense I didn’t know where to look. The red carpet is almost clear, and the stars are heading inside. More picture coming up later. The rain never showed up. Mother Nature was good to stars this year.

5:05 — Jeremy Renner (The Town) (below) is holding hands the whole time with his mother. Sweet.

5:00 — Helen Mirren, always a sweetheart, tells me that for the first time she has proper shoes. She normally buys “stripper shoes” from a porn shop. So funny.

MORE RED CARPET REPORT AVEC THE JUMP. Click on pictures to enlarge!
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The Sunset Tower is one of my favorite hotels in Los Angeles. First it’s and Art Deco paradise, second, as you can see from the pictures below, the view from the top floor rooms is amazing and third, this place is filled with old Hollywood history. During the “Golden Era” of Hollywood, many stars like Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo (you can see her picture hanging in the restaurant below), Mae West, Liz Taylor and Marilyn Monroe resided at the Sunset Tower. Actor John Wayne even had his own cow on his balcony so guests could have fresh milk with their coffee every morning. No joke. Howard Hughes even had several apartments for his various mistresses at the same time. Frank Sinatra had a bachelor pad right above Ava Gardner, and he used to lean over his balcony to scream her name.

The Vanity Fair party set up from above.

This will be the third year Vanity Fair magazine is hosting its famous exclusive post-Oscars bash. Why there? The magazine editor, Graydon Carter (fellow Canadian), and the owner of the hotel, New Yorker Jeff Klein, are partners in the restaurant Monkey Bar in New York. There goes the connection.

This place will be the Fort Knox of fame tonight right after the ceremony and the “obligatory” appearance at the Governors Ball. Some will also make a quick stop at the annual Elton John Aids Foundation gala at the Pacific Center. This one ends early and everyone then moves to the Vanity Fair to later finish the evening at Madonna and Demi Moore’s private house party. A very A-list group also attend the uber-private Dani Janssen’s (the widow of actor David Janssen) penthouse party in Century City where stars like Clint Eastwood, Barbra Streisand or Whoopi Goldberg feast on her famous monkey bread. The lady does all the cooking herself. To better understand the legend that is Dani Janssen in Hollywood, read this piece or this one about her legendary menu.

More pictures of the Sunset Tower and the Vanity Fair party set up after the jump, click to enlarge!
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Video Marie-Joelle Parent

The Oscars are surfing the Twitter wave this year. Not only can you follow @TheAcademy for all the details about the red carpet and the winners throughout the night, you can also follow Oscar’s tweeting moms. They will offer a glimpse of their kids’ personal lives. Co-host James Franco’s mom (@Francosmom) (pic below) will be tweeting and so will his grandmom (@Grandmamitz)(pic above). “The Fighter” director David O. Russell (@Orussellsmom) and “Toy Story 3″ director Lee Unkrich’s mother (@EmilieUnkrich) will also comment the ceremony. Follow the hashtag #mominees in Twitter’s research tool to find more…
-Link to a piece about the Oscars social media curve.

An anti-aging serum made of adult stem cells, a trip on a private island…sometimes, losing isn’t so bad after all. That is if you’re a star nominated at the Academy Awards of course. The non-winning Oscar nominees in the main categories will receive Monday morning, at their door steps, a gift bag containing $75,000 worth of free stuff.

With every major award ceremony comes the swag. It’s true for the Grammys, for the Emmys, for the Golden Globes, but during Oscar week, the gift swamp is taken to another level. I got a sneak peek at the eclectic basket put together by Distinctive Assets on Friday. This is the 9th year they spoil the non-winning stars the morning after the Oscars.

Here’s a few items the 22 actors will be getting. Actually, the only nominated actor who will get one even if he wins is James Franco, because he’s also co-hosting the show. Franco really has it all.

Let’s start with the trips. The most expensive gift is a $16,000 getaway to a luxury resort in the Maldives where you can enjoy treatments in the world’s first underwater spa. There’s also a $12,000 trip on a private island in Belize with a private houseman and the option to snorkel with sharks. Also in the bag: a germ-shield face mask to use aboard all these plane rides. The company XTI is also offering a $10,000 gift certificate to sterilize the stars’ movie set trailers with a green “nanocoating” product.

On the body-concious side, stars will receive a gift certificate for a one-week boot camp in Southern California to get in shape after this season of endless galas, cocktails and dinner parties. They also get a $850 fitness personal training package and Slimware portion-control plates.

On the beauty side, there’s an uber-expensive $325 skin regeneration serum not even in stores yet. “To avoid controversy, this cream is made of adult stem cells, not baby’s!”, specifies Lash Fary, the founder of Distinctive Assets. It’s supposed to make your skin look like a baby’s though. What’s it called ? “StemSational”. Of course.

More after the jump!
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