Amazing New Artist Alert

The first post-Oscar blog is a toughie.  It is admittedly a bit daunting to follow up one of the most surreal and exciting days of my life. 


That said, I think a worthy topic for this slightly-procrastinated post is my dear friend and extremely talented musician, Alex Rhodes. 

I first experienced Alex's incredible Norah Jones-esque vocals at my wonderful church where she sings on the worship team. I then experienced her sweet friendship as we went to the same weekly community group and began hanging out on a semi-regular basis.  She quickly became not only one of my favorite singers, but also one of my favorite people in Los Angeles. :-)


Alex's musical prowess doesn't end with her voice; she is an amazing songwriter, guitar player AND piano player.  I mean... wow.  I would be thrilled to possess merely ONE of those talents.  Ha.  Her intelligent lyrics are meaningful and relatable.  Here are the lyrics to my very favorite Alex Rhodes song.  When she played it for me in her room last spring, I had just experienced essentially the exact same situation.  It truly felt like she had taken all my crazy mixed up emotions and expressed them poetically to music... probably one of the most cathartic musical experiences I've ever had! (In fact, I think I made her play it like three times in a row...haha). It's called "Honestly"....


Don't play with me.
Finish what you started
When you gave your seat
Looked straight in my eyes
Until i could not breath, oh

I'm crazy now
Fine before our conversation
Took me down
You caught me like a hunter
Do I wait it out?

Unclench my fists
Wrapped around the signals
That I must have missed
All the boxes checked

I'll throw away that list, oh

But honestly
Why'd you go and light up
Like you wanted me?
This is not the way
I'd like my heart to be, oh

I hope that little lyrical preview whet your appetite. Luckily, Alex's debut EP is coming out soon!  Until then, do yourself a big favor and check out her lovely tunes here.  You can thank me later.  ;-)  

Annie's Oscar Notes

One week has passed since the Oscars, a.k.a. the longest, craziest, most surreal day of my year. While not enough has passed for me to catch up on much needed sleep (I am still so very exhausted), enough time has passed for some of my initial amazement and awe at March 7th's dreamlike event to start to wane.  Parts of it are such a blur!  I figured I should record and relive my favorite Oscar moments here before any more magical details escape me. In sequential order... 

1.) Seeing my mom, brother and camp counselor from when I was 12-years-old in the red carpet bleachers. That's right... my darling old counselor, Marissa, signed up to win bleacher seats after seeing it on my facebook and legitimately won! (That could be YOU next year if you sign up on www.oscars.org in September...)


2.) Being mere inches away from George Clooney as he signed autographs and shook hands with the bleacher fans.  He is truly even MORE dreamy than you imagine... WOW.  Here's a photo of me taking a photo of Mr. Clooney on my phone so you can see his extreme proximity to me. Ha! 







3.) Walking the red carpet with Mar.  It was so much fun to share this beyond-surreal experience with my best friend.  As we made our way to the grand staircase of the Kodak Theatre, we walked alongside Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Sandra Bullock, Stanely Tucci, Gaborey Sidibe, etc.  During my stroll down the red carpet, I also told Chris Harrison (who was in between red carpet interviews) that I loved The Bachelor and he said thanks. ;-) 

4.) Being at The Governor's Ball.  It's honestly a bit unbelievable to be in such a beautiful setting for the official Oscar after-party.  The decorations, the lighting, the set up...everything was simply breathtaking.  To make it all the better, I was joined at this gorgeous party by all the Oscar winners, nominees, and other VIPs. My "job" was to stand at the top of one of the staircases and ask these beautiful people if they wanted to do the press line. Umm..okay. Don't mind if i do. Here's a glimpse inside the beautiful ball (featuring none other than my Meryl...) :-)


5.) Getting called 'baby' by Mo'Nique. When I asked the new Oscar winner if she wanted to do the press line, she sweetly touched my arm and called me 'baby' several times as she held her new shiny prize. I found this to be very funny.  Get it girl. 

6.) Interacting with Chris Pine.  Holy hotness. This extremely handsome guy said "hi" to me as he came up my staircase.  It may seem insignificant, but my stomach definitely fluttered since HE spoke to me first, even if it was just one syllable. ;-) We then proceeded to make really great eye contact for extended periods of time on numerous occasions. A favorite Oscar moment for suuure. Yowza...

7.) TALKING TO MERYL STREEP. This is my #1 ultimate greatest most favorite Oscar moment.  The heavens smiled down on me when my (and the world's) all-time favorite actress came up my staircase.  As I spotted her at the foot of the stairs, I tried to calm my racing heart and play it cool.  I think (slash hope) I was successful in this as I said "Hi, would you like to do the press line?" To which she sweetly replied, "Oh no, I wouldn't."  To which I replied, "Okay, no problem! You look so lovely tonight... enjoy!" To which she said, "Thank you!" and I can't be sure because this is such a blur, but I think we shared a brief arm/hand graze in the midst of this. She is absolutely exquisite. I want to BE her. So amazing. And with that all of 3 second interchange, I'll never be the same again.  :-) 

8.) Making Rachel McAdams and her sister laugh. These two lovely ladies also came up my staircase, so I asked my standard question.  After Rachel said, "No thanks," I asked if they were sisters because they looked so much alike. They indeed were and seemed very happy that I noticed and asked.  Rachel then asked me, "What should we do now?" to which I replied, "Well, there's a bar there, there and there (as I pointed them out), so you really can't go wrong..."  They both laughed.  In retrospect, I should have taken this golden moment to ask if they wanted to be my new best friend and hang out on a regular basis, but I refrained.  ;-) 

9.) When staircase arrivals were over, I walked around the glorious Governor's Ball and called out great photo ops over the walkie-talkie if I saw one.  Tough job, right? :-) As I did this, I saw one table that made me chuckle. It was Ryan Reynolds, Bradley Cooper, Gerard Butler, John Travolta and several other actors I can't recall... and the sole female in the midst of these heartthrobs?  Barbara Streisand. What??  So very random and odd to me.  Ha.  As I continued walking around the ball, Bradley Cooper accidentally ran into me (literally) and then I made aaamazing eye contact with Ryan Reynolds.Yow-za he is beyond GORGEOUS. I could relive that moment all day long. Ha!


Well, there you have it. Some of my favorite moments from my one of my favorite days.  I suppose an appropriate closing would be, "I'd like to thank the Academy..."  :-) 


at

Happy Oscars Eve!

As I sit in my room at the lovely Renaissance Hotel preparing for the 82nd annual Academy Awards tomorrow, I am excited, exhausted, anxious, and wondering "how in the world did I get here?" This is my second year working in the marketing department of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, so my nerves are significantly less than they were at this time last year, but they are still alive and well, to be sure. 


Here is a brief run down of how my day will go tomorrow:
4:47 AM-- Wake up. Pray for no rain. 
5:30-7:30 AM-- Report to the bleacher area lining the Red Carpet (my co-worker Lorrin and I are completely in charge of this) and make any last minute preparations that must be done.
7:45-10:45 AM-- Welcome the 705 eager bleacher fans (who are coming from LITERALLY all around the world). 
11:30 AM-- Go upstairs to my hotel room for hair/make up/wardrobe change. Pray for no rain. 
1:30 PM-- Come back down to the bleachers. Attend to all the fans. Wait for Lorrin to get ready now. Pray for no rain. 
2:00 PM-- Check on the amazing Oscar viewing party we are hosting for the fans at the El Capitan Theatre. 
4:15 PM-- Walk down the glorious red carpet with my super hot date (Mary!!).  Take many photos.  (Look for us on the pre-shows!) 
5:15 PM-- Say bye to Mary briefly as she gets seated in the Kodak Theatre.  Go back to the bleachers and help execute the filing out of bleachers. 
6:00 PM-- Make sure all bleacher fans are out of stands. Drop off supplies in our hotel room. 
6:10 PM-- Finally make it to my seat in the Kodak for the OSCARS.
7:30 PM--  Report to the Governor's Ball, the official Oscars after party. 
8:00--9:00 PM-- Stand by the staircase of said ball and ask the nominees and winners if they want to do the press line.  (IE: "Hi Mr. Clooney, would you like to do the press line?")
9:00-12:00 AM--walk around the ball and 'spot' the stars.  (IE: "Meryl is talking to Sandra at table 32"). 
12:00-2:00 AM-- eat, drink, dance, and be merry at the Governor's Ball to properly end the craziest, longest, most surreal day of my year.  


Yowza.