Celebrity Sightings – Page 4

June 21, 2011June 20, 2011

The Envelope Emmy Week “Mad Men” Screening

Ever since fellow stalker Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, invited me to be his plus-one for the SAG screening/cast Q & A of the FX television series Justified back in late May, I have been all about attending similar-type events. So when he told me about an Envelope Emmy Week screening/roundtable of the television show Mad Men, featuring series’ creator Matt Weiner and series’ stars Jon Hamm (who plays Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce advertising executive Don Draper), Christina Hendricks (who plays secretary Joan Harris) and Kiernan Shipka (who plays Don’s daughter, Sally), I jumped at the chance to attend. Because Mad Men is one of the Grim Cheaper’s favorite television shows, I mistakenly assumed that he would also jump at the chance to be my date for the evening, so imagine my surprise when he told me that he would rather sit at home and watch paint dry! I mean, I understand not having an interest in attending some random screening, but when the opportunity comes up to see in person – and possibly meet – several actors from one’s favorite television show, I just do NOT understand turning that opportunity down. Men! Winking smile It all turned out alright, though, as Mikey invited fellow stalkers CB and Anushika, who are both contributors to his website, and we all had an ABSOLUTE BLAST hanging out together. Not to mention that we were also all given free popcorn and soda to enjoy during the screening! Celebrities and popcorn? What more could a stalker ask for?

The event got started right on time with a screening of the Season 4 episode titled “The Beautiful Girls”. Before the screening, I had never actually watched an entire episode of Mad Men and I have to say that I was most pleasantly surprised. I absolutely LOVED it and am now itching to watch the series from the very beginning. Anyway, Matt, Jon, Christina, and Kiernan were brought out shortly after the episode was finished and I have to stay that Jon Hamm is MAJORLY good looking in person! Like drool-worthy good looking! I had seen him once before, while watching an episode of the series being filmed in Pasadena last July, but because I did not get very close to him at the time I had no idea what a cutie he actually was! Sigh!!

Christina Hendricks was also GORGEOUS in person! With her striking red hair and bright red lips, she looked exactly like what one would expect a movie star to look like. She is also much taller in person than I had expected her to be.

Pretty much everyone in the audience was most taken with 11-year-old Kiernan Shipka, though, who has got to be one of the most adorable little girls that I have ever seen in my entire life! Kiernan is extremely poised, talkative, and wise beyond her years and reminded me a LOT of Dakota Fanning. At one point, the moderator asked her if mimicking the mannerisms of TV-mom January Jones, which Kiernan apparently did a lot of this season, had been her idea or that of Matt Weiner, and both Matt and Kiernan explained that it had been her idea and that she had started doing it spontaneously, without any sort of outside direction. Kiernan said that she out of the blue one day realized it would make sense to start “channeling” January’s habits, traits, and voice inflections so she began to carefully observe her while on set and then mimicked a few chosen behaviors during filming. This is an 11-year-old, people! Unbelievable!

All in all, it was a fabulous screening and the cast seemed to get along remarkably. As you can see in the above photographs, there was a LOT of laughing and joking around going on and the actors were all very complimentary of one another, especially Jon of Christina and Kiernan.

Because this screening was put on by the Los Angeles Times and Envelope Emmy Week, it was handled a bit differently than most SAG events and, sadly, audience members were not allowed to venture up to the stage to meet the actors after the Q & A had ended. So, Mikey, CB, Anushika and I literally RACED out of that theatre as soon as the event was over in order to try and catch the cast before they got in their limos. I really, really, REALLY wanted to get a photograph with Jon Hamm and, because fellow stalker Pinky LoveJoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, had informed me that Jon is always INCREDIBLY nice to his fans, I had very high hopes. Unfortunately though, Jon had already left the premises by the time we got outside, as had Kiernan. Christina Hendricks was, thankfully, still there, though, and was nice enough to sign a TON of autographs and take photographs with everyone who wanted one before leaving. Love it! Even though I did not get my picture with Jon Hamm, all in all it was a FABULOUS night and just the first of many screenings that I have attended over the past few weeks, but have yet to blog about. So stay tuned . . . Winking smile

Big THANK YOU to Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, for telling me about this event! Smile You can read Mikey’s write-up of the evening, as well as check out some videos he took while there, on his website.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: There is no stalking location for this one, but you can catch Mad Men each Sunday night on AMC. Season 5 of the series is not scheduled to begin airing until sometime in 2012.

June 3, 2011April 5, 2013

A Q & A with the Cast of “Justified”

Last Tuesday evening, my good friend Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, invited me to attend a SAG screening/cast Q & A for the FX television series Justified at a venue in North Hollywood. Now I should mention here that I have been a member of SAG for just about nine years and, while the union hosts screenings on an almost weekly basis, this was the first time I had ever attended one. You see, the only screenings I had ever heard about in the past featured Q & A sessions with writers, producers, and directors and, as I was explaining to Mikey, the last thing I want to do is sit around for an hour listening to some random production’s creative team wax philosophical about their “process”. Winking smile But once Mikey told me that the actual actors would be in attendance and that they typically pose for pictures and sign autographs after the events, I just about died of excitement! HOW IN THE HECK HAD I NEVER HEARD ABOUT THESE TYPES OF SCREENINGS BEFORE?????? Needless to say, Mikey has opened up a whole new world to me and not only did I attend a screening for Mad Men on Wednesday night, but I am also signed up for one next week, as well. The Grim Cheaper is SO not happy about this development, by the way! Winking smile Anyway, because SAG events are seated on a first come/first serve basis and because I am just a wee bit anal, I showed up three hours before showtime. Not surprisingly, I was the fourth person in line and when we were let into the theatre, I immediately snagged two front row spots for Mikey and me – which was great for the Q&A session, but not so much for the screening. As you can see in the above photograph, we were seated EXTREMELY close to the screen! My neck was absolutely KILLING me by the time the credits rolled on the episode that was shown. LOL

After watching the episode, which was titled “Bloody Harlan”, the cast members were called to the stage. In attendance was (from left to right in the above photographs) Natalie Zea, who plays Winona Hawkins; series star Timothy Olyphant, who plays U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens; series creator/executive producer Graham Yost; Margo Martindale, who plays criminal matriarch Mags Bennett; Walton Goggins who plays bad boy Boyd Crowder; and Erica Tazel, who plays Deputy Marshal Rachel Brooks.

I have to say that the Question and Answer session was extremely interesting – far more so than I had imagined it would be. Graham Yost, Margo Martindale, and Timothy Olyphant were all absolutely HILARIOUS and had the audience LOLing throughout most of the evening. One interesting tidbit that we learned about the series was that it was actually based upon two novels, Pronto and Riding the Rap, and the short story “Fire in the Hole”, all of which were written by Elmore Leonard, the legendary American novelist who penned the tomes which inspired the movies Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, Out of Sight, 3:10 to Yuma, and The Big Bounce .

Ashley Hebert Meets Ryan M.

After the Q&A segment, most of the cast hung around to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans. Because most actors consider themselves above the whole fandom thing, very few audience members tried to approach the stars. I was obviously not one of those people. Winking smile On a side note – I don’t know if any of my fellow stalkers are watching The Bachelorette this season, but in the premiere episode contestant Ryan Miller hopped out of the limo upon first meeting Bachelorette Ashley Hebert , with camera in hand, and promptly asked her to pose for a picture with him. After she did, he then said, “Later, I can get one with Chris Harrison, as well, that you can take, hopefully.” LOL LOL LOL That would SO be me if I was ever on that show! You can watch that scene by clicking above.

Anyway, Mikey and I first approached actor Timothy Olyphant, along with five other fans, all of whom wanted an autograph. Timothy signed the five autographs and then it was my turn. I asked him if he would take a picture with me and he said, “No, I’m not doing photos tonight!” And he then promptly left! Mikey turned to me and said, “Ouch! That really sucked!” And it did. I mean, I could understand him saying no if there were a bunch of other fans hanging around hoping to get a photograph as well, but being that I was ONLY one asking, I thought it was a pretty douchy maneuver on his part. The following day I found the above-pictured button at my favorite store, Lula Mae in Pasadena, and I just about died laughing. The GC said I should purchase a bunch of the buttons and hand them out to any actor who turns me down for a photo. Winking smile

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We next hit up actress Margo Martindale, whom I absolutely LOVED on Dexter, and I am very happy to report that she could NOT have been nicer! She really took her time speaking with the fans who approached her and signed all of the autographs and took all of the pictures people asked for. ABSOLUTELY LOVE HER!

Walton Goggins was also INCREDIBLY nice and happily posed for photos and signed autographs with his fans. He was so sweet, in fact, that after we took the above picture, he mentioned that my flash had failed to go off and asked if I wanted to take another.

Which we did. Smile SUCH a sweet guy!

And when I later found out that he had guest-starred as frat boy Mike Muchin on the Season 2 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “The Pit and Pendulum”, I just about had a heart attack!

SAG set up a small cocktail party after the event and while Mikey and I were walking around (eating way too many of the AMAZING chicken strips that were being served!), we spotted Erica Tazel. I was dying to get my pic taken with Erica as she had guest-starred on two of my very favorite television shows – Sex and the City and The Office! Smile

On SATC, Erica played Charlotte York’s (aka Kristin Davis’) dance teacher, Grace, in the Season 4 episode titled “Baby, Talk is Cheap”.

And in the Season 5 episode of The Office titled “Lecture Circuit: Part I”, she played Julia, one of Stanley Hudson’s (aka Leslie David Baker’s) clients whom Andy Bernard (aka Ed Helms) very unsuccessfully tries to hit on. All in all it was a fabulous night and I, for one, cannot WAIT to attend more events just like it!

Big THANK YOU to Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, for inviting me to this event! Smile You can check out Mikey’s write-up of the evening, as well as some videos that he of took of the Q&A session, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: There is no stalking location for this one, but you can catch Justified each Wednesday night on FX. And you can visit the show’s official website here.

May 31, 2011May 30, 2011

The “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Wrap Party

Two weekends ago, Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, invited me and the Grim Cheaper to do a little stalking of the wrap party for the hit ABC television series Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at a venue in Culver City. The GC was not at all happy to receive Pinky’s invite, of course, but once I heard that former Bachelorette Jillian Harris was going to be in attendance, there was no way in heck I was missing the thing. I absolutely loved Jillian both as a contestant on Season 13 of The Bachelor and then when she later starred on Season 5 of The Bachelorette, and I was absolutely dying to get a picture with her. So, much to the GC’s chagrin, the two of us found ourselves heading out to Culver City at around 6 p.m. two Saturdays ago to get our Extreme Makeover stalk on. One of the first celebs to arrive on the scene was Kathryn Joosten who plays Karen McCluskey on fave show Desperate Housewives. Kathryn immediately spotted Pinky’s new dog, Sammy, while walking up to the venue and asked if she could hold him in the pictures she took with us. Like I told Pinky last week, that dog was the best thing to ever happen to her stalking career, as he attracts attention, especially of the celebrity kind, wherever he goes. I have yet to see a star turn down Pinky for a photograph request when she’s holding Sammy. Note to self: get a cute dog, stat, or at least find one to borrow for celebrity events! Winking smile

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Jillian Harris arrived at the party pretty early on and I have to say that the girl could NOT have been cooler or more down-to-earth. As you can see, she also wanted to hold Sammy in our pictures. She even asked me to take a picture of her posing with Sammy on her iPhone. How cute is that?

Jillian was absolutely HILARIOUS and stayed around to talk with me and Pinky for quite some time. Chatting with her was like chatting with an old friend and after she left Pinky jokingly said, “Would it be weird if I slipped her my number? I so want to be her bestie!” Smile The thing is, Jillian was so cool that had Pinkie done that, I bet she would have called her up and asked her to hang out sometime.

Also in attendance was Dijon Talton, who played New Directions member Matt Rutherford during the first season of Glee;

Sterling Beaumon, who played Young Ben on Lost;

and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition designers Tracy Hutson . . .

. . . and Paige Hemmis, who is SO much taller in person than I expected her to be.

All in all it was a great night and all of the celebrities in attendance were super nice. I wanted to mention here, though, for those stalkers hoping to visit the LA area and get photographs with celebrities, that doing so requires countless hours of waiting around and a tremendous amount of patience. I do not just show up to events and filmings, get my pics in five minutes and then leave. Pinky, the GC, and I were at the Extreme Makeover wrap party for a good four hours. And while it was a success, I can promise you that not every event I attend is all sunshine and roses. I have had some TREMENDOUS fails. One of them just the other day, in fact. Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, and I had set out to do some stalking of the filming of True Blood at the Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles and at first things seemed extremely promising. The main security guard on duty was SUPER nice and told us we could hang out and watch the shoot as long as we did not take any photographs of the set or of the actors while they were filming, which we respected. She also told us exactly where to stand to catch the actors leaving the set and said that they were all usually very nice and more often than not posed for pictures with fans. So we waited. And waited. Then, after about five hours, actress Fiona Shaw walked outside and we asked her for a photograph. Well, not only did she turn us down flat, but she immediately walked over to the policeman on duty and told him to kick us off the property! And that was the end of that! I guess the show had had some problems earlier in the week with people posting spoiler photographs from the set, but still! We had been respectful the whole time, stood quietly off to the side of the filming, told the security guards exactly why it was we were there, and followed all of their requests, so to get kicked off, by Fiona Shaw of all people!!!, was a serious shame. But you win some, you lose some. Which comes to my point. The moral of the story is this – if you are coming to the LA area and are hoping to get photos with a star, be prepared to wait around for long periods of time, be prepared for your request to get turned down, and be prepared to go home with nothing. Chances are, if you are respectful of the crew and the filming, you will be successful, but I just didn’t want my fellow stalkers to think that stalking was always a walk in the park. Winking smile (Pictured above is the only photo from the True Blood set that I got that day. Stephen Moyer is pictured below the pink arrow.)

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: There is no stalking location for this one, but you can catch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition each Sunday night on ABC. You can visit the show’s official website here.

May 25, 2011May 25, 2011

Simon Fuller’s Walk of Fame Star Ceremony

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, bright and early this past Monday morning I headed out to Hollywood to attend the Walk of Fame Star Ceremony for American Idol creator Simon Fuller. And I really should admit here that, while the Grim Cheaper is a die-hard fan of AI, I have never really been all that into the show. The only reason I wanted to attend the ceremony was that Carrie Underwood was scheduled to be there and I have been absolutely DYING to get a photograph with her ever since the two of us played the “Carrie Underwater” game together on The Ellen DeGeneres Show back in early April (which you can watch a clip of here). And I have to say that the stalking gods were definitely smiling down upon me because the day turned out far better than I ever could have imagined!

I arrived on Hollywood Boulevard at around 10 a.m., just about ninety minutes before the event was scheduled to begin, and because I got there so early I ended up securing a FABULOUS spot directly against the crowd barricade, right behind the stage. A super-nice woman named Kat was standing next to me and the two of us wound up really hitting it off and shared many of our various stalking stories to kill time before the ceremony began.

The first celeb to arrive on the scene was So You Think You Can Dance judge/American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe, whom I absolutely love.

Nigel truly could not have been nicer and when I called out to him to ask for a pic, he immediately walked right on over and took a photograph with both me and Kat. Yay!

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Ironically enough, my friend/fellow stalker Mike, from the Mike the Fanboy blog, whom for a week I had been begging to come to the ceremony with me, texted me at around 11 a.m. to say that he was going to be able to make it after all. I ended up spotting him across the crowd right when a comedian came out to get the crowd warmed up shortly before the event got underway. Well, the comedian saw me waving hectically trying to get Mike’s attention and assumed I was waving at a celebrity. He immediately walked over to ask who it was I waving at and when I explained that it was “just my friend, Mike”, he began to call out “Mike, Mike, Mike!” over the loud speaker for all of Hollywood Boulevard to hear. This went on for a good three minutes or so. When Mike finally figured out that the comedian was speaking to him, he got incredibly embarrassed and tried to hide his face, but the comedian just wouldn’t stop. It was absolutely hilarious and at one point even some of the people in the crowd were shouting “Mike, Mike, Mike.” LOL

Amazingly enough, all of the Top 13 Season 10 Idols were in attendance for the ceremony, including Casey Abrams, James Durbin, Lauren Alaina, Paul McDonald, Pia Toscana, Stefano Langone, Scotty McCreery, Ashthon Jones, Haley Reinhart, Jacob Lusk, Karen Rodriguez, Naima Adedapo, and Thia Megia. When they first arrived on the scene, James and Lauren started making faces at the crowd through the glass doors of Delphine Restaurant, which was being used as a holding area for the event. James was easily the most friendly and funniest out of the bunch and, as you can see in the above photograph, was pretending to be smashed up against Delphine’s glass doors before coming outside.

The Idols were actually first brought out at 11 a.m., thirty minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to begin, for a meet-and-greet with the fans, which was quite unusual. Celebrities usually wait until the end of each Walk of Fame ceremony before signing autographs and posing for pictures, but apparently the Idol kids were scheduled to rehearse for the show’s season finale immediately following the event and would not be able to stick around afterwards.

The Idols were all SUPER nice and happily posed for as many photographs as people asked for. I got my picture taken with James Durbin, who was my favorite this season;

Stefano Langone;

Pia Toscano, who is GORGEOUS in person;

Casey Abrams;

finalist Lauren Alaina;

and Paul McDonald, who, when I asked for a photograph, said, “Of course! I will stand here and take as many pictures as people want.” SO NICE!

Finalist Scott McCreery was also incredibly nice and happily agreed to take a second photograph with me after I majorly failed taking the first one.

At this point I was beyond floored! I mean, the day was already shaping up to be a huge WIN and the ceremony hadn’t even begun yet! So, as you can imagine, I literally just about had a heart attack when my FAVORITE So You Think You Can Dance judge, Mary Murphy, walked outside! Mary is so incredibly positive, energetic and FUN on the show that I absolutely fell in love with her during the series’ first season. I was standing pretty far away from Mary, but as soon as she walked out I immediately started calling her name to ask her to come over for a picture and she yelled back that she would just as soon as the ceremony was over.

Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Randy Jackson were the next celebs to arrive and, not surprisingly, they did not go up to fans to pose for photographs or sign autographs.

Posh Spice, aka Victoria Beckham, showed up next, but she also did not walk over to the fan area. I have to say that she looked absolutely STUNNING, though!

Carrie Underwood was next on the scene and she also looked absolutely AMAZING! Love, love, love her shoes!

The ceremony got started right on time at 11:30 with Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leron Gubler introducing Simon Fuller with a brief speech.

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest spoke next and gave a very heartfelt speech about Simon. Ryan stated that for once the cameras had been turned on the producer and even though he knew that Simon would be incredibly uncomfortable being the focus of so much attention, it was all incredibly well-deserved.

Then Carrie Underwood came up and said a few brief words, thanking Simon for making all of her dreams, as well as the dreams of so many others, come true. Then Simon spoke and thanked all of the people who had worked behind the scenes to help make Idol one of the most popular shows on television. He said that when he first came up with the idea for the series well over a decade ago, every single network turned him down and no one in the industry seemed to be at all enthusiastic about a show centering around a singing competition. He said it took a lot of hard work and determination to finally bring the show to fruition. I bet those network executives who turned him down are kicking themselves black and blue right about now! Simon also gave a very heartfelt thank you to Idol judge Simon Cowell, who was not in attendance, but whom he said pretty much made the show was it is today.

And with that the ceremony was over. Ryan Seacrest was the first celeb to head over to the fan barricade to begin signing autographs and taking pictures. Ryan was extremely nice and, as you can see in the above photograph, not nearly as short as everyone makes him out to be. I would guess he is about 5’7” or 5’8”.

Carrie Underwood came over next and I immediately told her that I had played the “Carrie Underwater” game with her on Ellen. Well, let me tell you, I just about died when a look of recognition came across her face and she said, “Oh my gosh! How are you? I am so glad to see that you recovered from that! Your make-up is intact today!” (I had gotten drenched with water balloons during the game on Ellen and by the time it was over my mascara had run halfway down my face.) Then Carrie said, “How are you enjoying your new bike?” I absolutely could not believe that she not only remembered that my make-up had gotten ruined on the show, but also the fact that I had won a bike!!!!! What a complete and total sweetheart! Sigh! Love her!

Carrie signed a ton of autographs and took a lot of pictures with the fans in attendance. She also signed a few guitars that people had brought along. So incredibly cool!

Randy Jackson came over next but he, sadly, only signed about three autographs before leaving.

The Eight Season American Idol winner Kris Allen was also in attendance and not only was he super nice in person, but he was also SUPER cute.

Idol’s Season Seven winner, rocker David Cook, was also there and he was also incredibly nice to the fans, and, let me tell you, people were going absolutely CRAZY over him!

Simon Fuller also came over to the crowd, but he sadly only signed a few autographs before heading back into the W Hotel Hollywood for the ceremony after-party.

Ever since the ceremony ended, I had been calling over to Mary Murphy, begging her to come take a picture with me, and when she was finally able to come over after doing a few press interviews, she walked up, put her arms out and gave me a HUGE hug! What a SWEETHEART! I love her even more now than I did before! And with that the event was pretty much over. Quite a day for this stalker, let me tell you! I was pretty much walking on air for the rest of the afternoon!

And, as I was leaving, I happened to spot Extra correspondent Terri Seymour, who, ironically enough, just so happens to be Simon Cowell’s ex-girlfriend.

After the ceremony I met up briefly with Mike, from the Mike the Fanboy site, and was floored to learn that he was one of the very lucky few to get autographs from both JLo and Posh Spice. Each woman only signed about five autographs the entire day, so Mike majorly scored on that one! You can see his autographs and his fabulous photographs of the event here. Simon Fuller’s unveiled star is pictured above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Simon Fuller’s star on the Walk of Fame can be found directly in front of the W Hotel Hollywood, which is located at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

May 4, 2011May 3, 2011

Teri Hatcher’s Red Carpet Charity Yard Sale

This past Sunday morning, Miss Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, called me up to let me know that she had just found out about a celebrity fundraising event in Santa Monica that was being hosted by actress Teri Hatcher. So, much to the Grim Cheaper’s chagrin, I immediately hopped right out of bed, ran a brush through my hair, threw on some make-up, grabbed my car keys, and dragged him right on over to the West Side to stalk it. To say that my life has changed for the better since meeting Pinky this past Valentine’s Day would be a rather gross understatement! I have met more celebrities and gone to more celebrity events in the past three months since knowing her than in the previous ten-plus years that I have lived in Los Angeles put together! And I have made a great friend in the process, to boot!

Teri’s fundraiser, which took place at the Tiato Market Garden Café, was a celebrity yard sale benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (my girl Jen Aniston’s favorite charity) and the RockSTAR music education program, and featured for sale “gently used” clothing, handbags, and furnishings formerly owned by such celebrities as Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba, actress Goldi Hawn, Glee’s Jayma Mays, and reality star Kourtney Kardashian. The yard sale was a very relaxed, low-key event and while there were several journalists on hand to document the goings-on, the only stalkers in attendance were me, Pinky, our friend Mike, from the Mike the Fanboy website, and his friend Erica. The autograph hounds, or the “graphers” as Pinky likes to call them, were thankfully nowhere to be found, which meant that I did not get pushed or shoved once the entire morning! Yay!

The first celeb to arrive on the scene was reality star Bob Guiney, who was a contestant on Trista Rehn’s season of The Bachelorette in 2003 and then later starred on the fourth season of The Bachelor. Bob was SUPER nice and remembered Pinky from when he had met her a few months prior and even joked with her about how he had kissed too many women during his Bachelor stint.

Next up was James Denton whom I have heard on countless occasions is one of the nicest celebrities out there and I am very happy to report that he did NOT disappoint! James was an absolute sweetheart and was very outgoing and friendly. Love, love, love him!

The next celeb to arrive was Mark Moses, aka Desperate Housewives’ Paul Young, and he was also SUPER nice and friendly in person, which was quite the shock to my system being that his character is so completely cold and devious. My brain almost could not process talking to him because he had a smile on his face the whole time which was such a huge departure from how I am used to seeing him on TV.

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Also in attendance was Tamra Barney from The Real Housewives of Orange County . . .

. . . who was GORGEOUS in person (she reminded me a lot of Emily Maynard from this past season of The Bachelor);

Natasha Alam from True Blood, whom I met a couple of weeks ago at the Decisions Movie Premiere and Celebration of Corey Haim’s Life event;

and Estella Warren from the 2001 Planet of the Apes re-make . . .

. . . whose dress I was absolutely obsessed with! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE dresses that have pockets!!!! And the color! Sigh! So incredibly adorable.

Teri Hatcher came out to walk the red carpet towards the end of the media portion of the event and she was ABSOLUTELY MOBBED by photographers and journalists, making it impossible to get close enough to her to ask for a picture. She was STUNNING in person, though, and SO INCREDIBLY TINY!

After about thirty minutes of watching Teri get mobbed by media people everywhere she went, Pinky and I resigned ourselves to not getting a photograph with her. But, as fate would have it, when we stepped inside of the restaurant to use the bathroom before leaving the event, we encountered Teri standing all by herself! Pinky and I each quickly posed for a pic with her and then she was off! Talk about your perfect timing! Had we been five seconds earlier or five seconds later we would have missed her entirely. This was one celebrity photograph that was definitely meant to be! Smile

I also randomly ran into Josh Sussman, who plays blogger/Rachel-Berry-lover Jacob Ben Israel on Glee, this weekend just after hitting up a Starbucks in Burbank. Unlike all of my other encounters with actors from Glee, Josh truly could NOT have been nicer and happily posed for a pic with me and even waited patiently while I dug around in my purse trying to find my camera. Yay! All in all, it was definitely a FABULOUS weekend. Smile

On a stalking side note – Marci, the SUPER sweet owner of Lula Mae, my very favorite store, just gifted me with the notebook pictured above, which I think is just about the cutest thing ever! I stop by Lula Mae at least four times a week (what can I say, I am addicted to the place!) and spend quite a bit of time chatting with Marci about my various stalking adventures, so while she was out shopping this past weekend she spotted the “Actors I Met and Liked” notebook and immediately thought of me. Love it, love it, love it! I think I am going to have to add an “Actors I Met and Disliked” section to the book, too, as there are quite a few of those, as well. Winking smile

Big THANK YOU to Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, for telling me about this event!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Tiato Market Garden Café, where Teri Hatcher’s Red Carpet Charity Yard Sale was held, is located at 2700 Colorado Boulevard in Santa Monica. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

April 22, 2011April 22, 2011

Hanging Out With the Cast of “Cougar Town”

This past Wednesday night, fellow stalker and celebrity enthusiast Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, invited me to join her in doing a little stalking of a Cougar Town event in North Hollywood, which I could NOT have been more excited about as I am a HUGE fan of the show. Pennnnnnnny Caaaaaaaaaaan, anyone? Anyway, as is always the case with these types of events, we were not entirely sure who from the cast would be in attendance or if we would have any luck whatsoever in getting a photograph with the actors who did, in fact, show up. As it turned out, though, the stalking gods were DEFINITELY smiling down upon us that night as we ended up getting a picture with EVERY SINGLE ONE of the series’ stars, including Monica Gellar herself, Miss Courteney Cox! It was quite an evening, let me tell you! I was so darn excited I am surprised that my head did not explode!

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When I first arrived at the event I spotted E! celebrity correspondent and frequent Chelsea Lately roundtable guest Michael Yo walking around and I just about had a heart attack! I immediately ran up to him and asked if he would be willing to pose for a picture with me and he truly could NOT have been nicer about it. Ironically enough, I was so floored over getting my photo taken with Michael, that I kind of figured I was done for the evening – I mean, how much celebrity luck can one stalker have in a day? Little did I know what the universe had in store for me, though! (On a side note – Michael Yo is TALL! I am 5’4”, but I had 4 inch heels on last night and, as you can see in the above photograph, even with those monstrous heels on, he still towered above me!)

The first Cougar Town star to show up was Ian Gomez who plays Andy Torres on the series. Andy was SUPER nice and I cannot tell you how cool it was to hear him say “Pennnnnnnny Caaaaaaaaaan” in person and do the little dance right in front of us! Love it! And when we walked back by the venue later that night after the event was over, Andy was still there signing autographs for fans! Such an incredibly nice guy!

Josh Hopkins showed up next and I have to say that the man is ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE in person! And super nice! Sigh!

I accidentally photo-bombed Pinky’s picture with Josh, though! As Pinky would say, “Fail!” Major fail! I honestly was not trying to hone in on her picture, though – I actually thought I was out of the frame while it was being taken. I swear, I am such a douche sometimes!

Comedian Michael McDonald, who plays Cougar Town’s wine bar owner Wayne and who is also a producer/writer/director of the series, showed up next. He was emceeing the event and I think he was slightly annoyed with me as Pinky and I had decided to exchange cameras at that point so that we could take photographs of each other and I could just not get hers to work right. I know, I know – like I said, I am such a douche sometimes!

Busy Phillips was up next and I was STUNNED at how STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL she was in person, way more so than she appears to be on TV. She is honestly one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in real life! She is also much taller and thinner than I expected her to be. I saw Neve Campbell filming Party of Five in Pasadena a couple of years back and had the exact same reaction. While Neve appears to be very average-looking onscreen, in person she literally took my breath away! It was absolutely shocking how GORGEOUS she was in real life! And also VERY tall and thin. It is amazing to me how the camera just does not do justice to some people for whatever reason. But I digress.

Dan Byrd, whom I absolutely loved in A Cinderella Story, arrived after Busy and he was also super nice.

Because of a major camera fail on my part, Pinky and I ended up taking our photograph with Christa Miller together. I was SO glad to finally get a picture with Christa, because I had actually met her back in January of 2009 when my dad and I watched CSI: Miami being filmed for the first time, but for whatever reason we did not ask her for a photo and I have been kicking myself ever since!

Christa’s husband, Cougar Town and Scrubs creator/producer/writer Bill Lawrence, was also in attendance and he could NOT have been nicer! Pinky immediately called out to him to ask him for a photograph and he said it was the first time he had ever been asked for a picture on the red carpet. He said he had massive amounts of respect for any fan who not only recognized a show’s writer, but also knew his or her name. Smile

Brian Van Holt, who plays lovable dolt Bobby Cobb on the show, arrived next and he was also SUPER nice. To be honest, the entire cast was incredibly nice and approachable as a whole, which was refreshing to see.

And I just had to get a photo with Extra host Jerry Penacoli, who was also – you guessed it! – SUPER nice. Winking smile

Courteney Cox was the last of the show’s stars to arrive and when she pulled up, the autograph hounds went absolutely nuts. For those who have never attended a celebrity event in Hollywood, there is a group of about twenty to thirty people who make a profession out of attending these events, getting stars to sign numerous (we are talking ten to twenty to thirty!) headshots or movie posters at a time, and then subsequently selling them online. The problem with these hounds is that they are furiously aggressive (they love to push and shove) and by having celebrities sign so many autographs at once, they use up most of the star’s time and the actual fans in attendance, who are typically not as aggressive, often wind up missing out. Well, the security team at the Cougar Town event was hip to these hounds and informed them that they could only have ONE piece of memorabilia signed by each actor. The hounds, of course, ignored that request and after getting their first item signed would just simply move over to a different part of the crowd, push and shove their way to the front, and try to have additional items signed. Sadly, by the time Courteney arrived, the security was seriously frustrated over the whole thing and removed the actress from the line after just a few minutes, before we had gotten a chance to meet her, which was a COMPLETE AND TOTAL bummer.

As luck would have it, though, the hounds ended up leaving as soon as Courteney started walking the red carpet and only a small group of us was left waiting outside of the venue. So, during a break in interviews, we called over to Courteney to ask if she would come back over to pose for a few photos and, let me tell you, I just about died when she told us to walk over to the red carpet area and that she would pose with us there. The security team, of course, went nuts over that and told Courteney that we weren’t allowed near the press line, but she was pretty adamant about it and, after a few minutes of discussion, she finally got them to allow it. How incredibly nice is that?????? Now that’s a celebrity who truly cares about her fans!

And, as promised, as soon as she completed all of her interviews, she posed with each and every one of us! SO INCREDIBLY COOL! LOVE HER! LOVE HER! LOVE HER!

Afterwards, Pinky and her friend Mike, from the Mike the Fanboy blog, who had joined us during the event, went out to Starbucks to grab some coffee and we had an absolute blast sharing our numerous celebrity stories. All in all, it was a fab night!

Big HUGE thank you to Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, for inviting me to this event!!!!! It was honestly one of the coolest nights of my life!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: There is no stalking location for this one, but you can catch Cougar Town each Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.

April 13, 2011April 15, 2011

The “Decisions” Movie Premiere and Celebration of Corey Haim’s Life

This past Sunday night, fellow celebrity stalker and photo-bug extraordinaire Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, invited me to do some stalking of the premiere of Corey Haim’s final movie, Decisions, at the Writers Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills. I could NOT have been more excited to attend because, as I have mentioned quite a few times before on this site, I have been a HUGE fan of Corey’s ever since 1988 when License to Drive first premiered. Because the event was also a celebration of the late actor’s life, many of his longtime friends, as well as most of the actors who starred in Decisions, were in attendance.

The Writer’s Guild Theatre is a very small venue and I just about fell over when one of the event coordinators invited Pinky, the Grim Cheaper, and me to stand INSIDE where there was a small fan area set up just off of the red carpet. So incredibly cool! And, amazingly enough, there were only about five stalkers besides ourselves there so we had fabulous access to most of the stars.

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The event was being hosted by Haim’s longtime friend Corey Feldman, who I have to admit I was not at all a fan of when The Two Coreys was on the air. But I really appreciate how hard Corey has worked to honor his fallen friend by keeping his memory alive in Hollywood ever since his untimely passing. And I am very happy to report that he could NOT have been nicer in person. Corey seemed to be a genuinely kind man and took a lot of time to speak with and take pictures with each of his fans.

According to this recent EW.com article about the event, Feldman was wearing a jacket that Haim had once given him.

The premiere was mostly made up of 80’s stars, which I, of course, could NOT have been more thrilled about! I was most excited about meeting actress Kristy Swanson, whom I absolutely LOVED in the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer movie.

I have to say that it was pretty cool being able to tell her that I dressed up like her character Buffy Summers one year for Halloween back when I was in high school. 🙂

I was also floored to see singer/actor Jeremy Jordan, whom I recognized from the ending credits of the second season of Beverly Hills, 90210. For those of you out there who did not have every episode of the series recorded like I did and have no idea what on earth it is I am talking about right now, at the very end of each show Tori Spelling was shown walking up to the Peach Pit’s jukebox, pointing to a song and saying “Jeremy Jordan, all right!”, after which his video for “The Right Kind of Love” would come on the screen. Pinky later informed me that Jeremy had also starred as Guy Perkins in fave movie Never Been Kissed, which I hadn’t before realized! So incredibly cool!

I just about died when Julie McCullough, who played Mike Seaver’s (aka Kirk Cameron’s) fiancé Julie Costello during the fourth season of Growing Pains, walked in. I absolutely LOVED Julie on the show and was heartbroken when her character was written off of the series in 1990. Julie also starred as Trina, the girl who stole Steve Sanders Corvette, in the Season 1 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Slumber Party”. Love it! Seeing so many ‘80s stars in one place put me into serious overload! I swear, if Tommy Puett had walked in, my head might have just exploded!

Also in attendance was Donna D’Errico, from Baywatch;

Nicole Eggert, from Charles in Charge;

who is seriously pregnant right now!;

John Marshall Jones from the original Melrose Place and Smart Guy;

actor Carlos Ramirez, the twin brother of actor Efren Ramirez (aka Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite);

Jarrod Schulz from the A&E show Storage War$;

and his wife Brandi Passante, who also appears on the show;

Sofia Milos from CSI: Miami, who is absolutely GORGEOUS in person;

Bai Ling, who is easily my mom’s least favorite celebrity, so I just had to get a picture with her Winking smile ;

Mary Carey, the adult film actress/Celebrity Rehab star who ran for governor of California in 2003;

Francisco San Martin, who plays Dario Hernandez on Days of Our Lives;

Phoebe Price, who the GC was VERY excited about seeing as she is featured daily on his favorite blog, Dlisted;

Natasha Alam, who plays Yvetta on True Blood;

and Mike Foy, one of the stars of Decisions.

All in all it was a great event and I am so incredibly thankful that I got to be a part of it.

Big THANK YOU to Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, for inviting me to stalk the Decisions premiere! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Decisions will be released on May 13th. You can visit the movie’s official website here.

March 24, 2011March 23, 2011

Watching “The Mentalist” Being Filmed – A Second Time!

This past Tuesday morning I was interviewed about my website for an article on filming locations that will be published sometime in early April in a few local, San Gabriel Valley-area newspapers. While we were talking, the reporter happened to mention that she had just spoken with the City of Monrovia’s Film Liaison who had told her that fave show The Mentalist would be filming that very day on Myrtle Avenue in Downtown Monrovia. So, I immediately headed right on over there to do a bit of Simon Baker stalking. As I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, I do not particularly enjoy stalking alone, so I begged my mom, who lives just up the street from where filming was taking place, to come to the set with me and, thankfully, she agreed. When we arrived, we discovered that producers had built a fake, but very detailed jewelry store set inside of what is, in actuality, a large kitchen appliance store named Kitchen & Bath Expo, Inc.

I cannot tell you how fascinating it was to see the fake store, which was named Nesbitt & Company Jewelers, in person. A false rear wall had been built in front of the large appliances that are normally on display in the front windows of the Kitchen & Bath Expo and fake jewelry cases along with fake jewels had been placed in the main area of the store and the effect was incredibly realistic. So realistic, in fact, that one of the people we spoke with who had stopped to watch the filming with us mentioned that she had walked by the storefront the previous morning and thought to herself, ‘Just what the area needs – another jewelry store!’ It was not until she saw the filming trucks the following day that she realized the entire thing was just a set.

Pictured above is what Kitchen & Bath Expo, Inc. looks like in real life.

As you can see, set decorators simply covered over the kitchen displays with fake walls. My mom asked one of the crew members why producers had not simply found a real jewelry store to film at, since there are more than a few of them in the area, but he told us that they needed a jewelry store situated next to an alley. When they couldn’t find one that met their needs, they simply decided to create their own. Ah, the magic of Hollywood!

The scene we watched being filmed involved Patrick Jane (aka Simon Baker) and Teresa Lisbon (aka Robin Tunney) pulling up next to the jewelry store in Lisbon’s car and then walking through the alleyway together. The camera was set up directly across the street from the store.

Traffic on Myrtle was shut down only intermittently during the filming and, with the crime scene tape strung across the alley, the flashing lights on the many police cars parked at the scene, and the camera not being readily visible, it must have looked to those driving by as if an actual crime had just taken place.

Simon Baker and Robin Tunney walked out just a few short minutes after we arrived on the set and Simon immediately smiled and waved at the fans standing across the street (there were only about five of us) and then the two of them walked over to the car they were set to be driving in the scene. I was really hoping that Simon would walk over to take pictures with the fans, since there were so few of us, but he never did. Sad smile

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The driving scene was completed in only one take and then Robin and Simon headed into the alleyway to do some more filming. Unfortunately, we could not get very close to the alley so we left shortly after that.

On the way back to my parents’ apartment, I noticed that every single store and restaurant on Myrtle Avenue had a sign offering discounts to the film crew taped to their front windows, which I thought was just about the coolest thing ever! Talk about being a film-friendly city! Love it!

Some filming also took place at Monrovia’s Vertia Salon, which is located right around the corner from the Kitchen & Bath Expo, Inc., but unfortunately I arrived after that scene had already been completed.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Kitchen & Bath Expo, Inc., aka the fake jewelry store set from The Mentalist, is located at 415 South Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia. The alleyway where filming took place is located just south of the Expo. Verita Salon is located at 111 East Lime Avenue in Monrovia.

March 18, 2011March 17, 2011

Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet” Book Signing

This past Wednesday night I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to my favorite local bookstore, Vroman’s (which coincidentally just appeared in the most recent episode of Modern Family, but more on that later), to attend the book signing and discussion for Alicia Silverstone’s new lifestyle tome The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet. Even though I am not in any way, shape, or form a vegan, I was absolutely DYING to attend the book signing because, as I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, not only is Clueless one of my all-time favorite movies, but Alicia and I happened to grow up in the same hometown – San Mateo, California – so I have always had a very special place in my heart for the actress. Because I am a diabetic and on a very strict, virtually no-carbohydrate diet, though, and because most vegan diets that I have read about tend to favor carbs, I was not actually interested in purchasing a copy of Alicia’s book for myself. But my good friend Nat, who actually attended San Mateo High School – Alicia’s alma mater – is a vegan and she absolutely LOVES Alicia’s book – and her lifestyle blog, The Kind Life – so I decided I would purchase a copy for her as a little “just because” present. Which is how the GC and I found ourselves heading over to Vroman’s at about 5 p.m. this past Wednesday night. And, as always, before the event got started, I sent him outside to snap some photographs of Alicia when she arrived. Winking smile

The signing began right on time, at 7 p.m., but for some reason it was VERY strictly monitored. No photographs WHATSOEVER were allowed during the event – not when Alicia walked into the room, not during the discussion session, and not while standing in line waiting to have our books signed. We were told shortly before her arrival that each guest would be allowed one – and only one – posed photograph with Alicia (which I could NOT have been more excited about as most celebs will not actually pose for pictures during a signing), but otherwise photographs of any kind would not be allowed. To enforce this, two quite burly Pasadena policemen were on site and they threatened to remove anyone who was even spotted with a camera in their hands during the event! So I was extremely thankful that the GC had managed to snap some photographs of Alicia outside of the store.

Alicia, who is currently pregnant, was ABSOLUTELY adorable in person and much taller than I had expected her to be, although she was wearing some fairly tall heels. She walked directly to the podium upon arrival, introduced herself, and started speaking about why she decided to write The Kind Diet, which was an extremely surreal moment for me as it was like watching the Haitian immigrant debate scene from Clueless (pictured above) come alive before my very eyes. I kept having to pinch myself to make sure that it was all really happening and that I wasn’t actually at home sitting in front of my television set. I have to say that in person, Alicia reminded me A LOT of Cher, her Clueless alter-ego. In real life, Alicia has the same mannerisms, facial expressions, and vocal tendencies that I had grown so familiar with from watching the movie over and over again. And I can honestly say that I love Alicia even more now than I did before. The actress came off as extremely charming, warm, genuine, and sweet. She was also poised, well-read, and wildly knowledgeable about veganism, holistic medicine, and healthy nutrition. I was riveted listening to her and, while not a vegan, found myself agreeing whole-heartedly with the vast majority of what she had to say. She also handled herself incredibly well when one of the audience members asked her an asinine question about veganism and pregnancy, in which he tried to make Alicia look bad. (Honestly, if you don’t agree with her lifestyle and are not a fan of hers, then why come to the event????) Alicia responded to him, though, with honesty, wit, and a bit of snarkiness and ended up making him look like a complete and total moron. As we left the event, I found myself wondering how she managed to do that! I cannot tell you how much I would love to be able to tell a rude person off without breaking my cool and all the while seeming poised and charming. But I digress. I was most surprised to hear Alicia speak about diabetes and veganism. As it turns out, her diet does not favor carbohydrates at all and is actually very similar to the diet I am currently on, so it looks like I am now going to have to buy a copy of the book for myself!

After Alicia’s speech, which lasted about thirty minutes, we all lined up to meet the actress. Alicia really took her time with all of her fans and seemed to have an incredibly warm and open personality. And, as promised, every guest got to pose for a photograph with her, which I was absolutely floored about!

Nat’s signed book is pictured above.

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Alicia’s inscription reads, “Dear Natalie, Thank you for loving the book! <3, Alicia Silverstone”.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, fave show Modern Family recently did some filming on location at Vroman’s Bookstore. The final scene of the Season 2 episode titled “Two Monkeys and a Panda”, in which Mitchell Pritchett (aka Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron Tucker (aka Eric Stonestreet) peruse various books on parenting, took place near the store’s Current Event’s section.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can check out the store’s upcoming signings here. You can purchase Alicia Silverstone’s book The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet here. You can visit Alicia’s lifestyle blog, The Kind Life, here. And you can check out future L.A.-area book signings and other celebrity events on my Upcoming Celebrity Events page here.

March 1, 2011April 21, 2011

Stalking the 2011 Academy Awards

As I have mentioned countless times before on this blog, Oscar Weekend is, hands down, my favorite weekend of the entire year. Hollywood just seems to come alive during Oscar Weekend and I honestly cannot get enough of it. And this year was no different. My Oscar stalking began early this past Saturday morning and continued on through late Sunday night and I think it is safe to say that the poor Grim Cheaper is absolutely beat. Winking smile Thankfully though, some good friends and fellow stalkers – Beth, Mary, Debbie, and Carol – were in town from Louisville, Kentucky and they let me tag along with them all weekend, so the GC did get somewhat of a reprieve. And while this year was, sadly, not as great as previous years due to the fact that hotels have seriously beefed up their security and many would only let actual guests through their front doors, we still managed to have an absolute BLAST! We started out our 2011 Oscar stalking adventure Saturday morning when we hit up the blue carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards – and yes, the event does actually feature a blue carpet. The Spirit Awards are held in a tent directly next to the beach in Santa Monica and, let me tell you, this year the weather was absolutely FREEZING – and I mean that literally! It actually SNOWED in many parts of Los Angeles this past weekend (not kidding!) and the GC and I witnessed it firsthand at one point, which I am fairly certain he was more excited about than any of the celebs that we encountered.

When we arrived at the Spirit Awards, there was already a HUGE group camped out along the blue carpet, but we still managed to snag a pretty good spot in which to stand. While there, I ran into celebrity stalker extraordinaire Pinky Lovejoy (pictured above), from the Pinky Lovejoy Blog, whom I had met at Alec Baldwin’s Star Ceremony a few weeks back. Smile

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We had an absolute blast stalking the red carpet and just a few of the stars who were on hand include Jason Isaacs – aka “Lucius Malfoy” from the Harry Potter movies;

Warren Beatty;

Annette Bening;

Jennifer Lawrence;

Amanda Peet, who is absolutely ADORABLE in person;

Anthony Mackie;

Terrance Howard;

director Danny Boyle;

Diego Luna;

John Hawkes;

Sarah Steele from Spanglish;

Greta Gerwig from Greenberg;

Samuel L. Jackson;

Liev Schreiber;

Aaron Eckhart, who is GORGEOUS in person;

one of fellow stalker Owen’s favorite actors, Paul Rudd;

Malin Ackerman;

Amber Tamblyn;

David Cross;

Erika Christensen;

Jane Lynch (YAY!);

(I absolutely LOVE that the GC managed to snap a picture of Jane making one of her famous Sue Sylvester faces!);

Eva Mendes;

Jesse Eisenberg (he did not turn towards the crowd when he arrived, so we only got a picture of the back of his head);

Jeremy Renner;

Rainn Wilson (aka Mr. Dwight Schrute!);

Jamie Foxx;

Ben Stiller;

Rosario Dawson;

Joel McHale (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE him!);

and Nicole Kidman (who is STUNNING in person) and Keith Urban.

I LOVE the picture of Nicole above, which my friend Carol snapped. So cute!

Natalie Portman tried to sneak in behind Nicole and Keith, but thankfully the GC still managed to get some pics of her. Smile

After the Spirit Awards arrivals wrapped up, the GC and I headed on over to the Kodak Theatre to do some stalking of the Academy Awards’ red carpet. Sadly though, everything was blocked off this year and we were not allowed to walk on the red carpet or to get very close to any of the set-up, which was incredibly disappointing.

We did spot the above-pictured Oscar statue being hauled from the Renaissance Hotel to the Kodak Theatre, though, which I thought was absolutely hilarious.

We then headed over to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (where the first Academy Awards ceremony was held) to see if anything was going on there. As fate would have it, the E! channel was running rehearsals for their Oscar coverage show in the lobby of the hotel and we were lucky enough to be able to watch. As you can see in the above photographs, Kris Jenner was on site rehearsing for the show.

As was Ross Mathews, from Chelsea Lately.

As luck would have it, Kris wound up leaving the hotel at the exact same time we did and she was nice enough to pose for a photo with me on her way out, which I could NOT have been more excited about. I have actually never been a fan of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but I will always have a special place in my heart for the series due to the fact that anytime someone encounters my family for the first time, they invariably say, “You guys need your own reality show! You are funnier than the Kardashians!” My good friend Nat keeps threatening to secretly videotape us and send the result to the E! channel. LOL I guess I can see where people are coming from, though. Case in point – this past Friday afternoon the GC downloaded and then proceeded to spend a good ten minutes showing me an app in which one, while in a store, can scan the barcode of an item along with its price using the camera on their iPhone and the phone will then subsequently spit back a list of places where you can purchase said item for less money. Not kidding! I totally thought he was joking with me, but sadly he wasn’t. Not only is that app real, but the GC fully expects me to USE it! Oh, the things I have to put up with!

On Sunday evening, while doing some more hotel stalking, I spotted Doris Roberts, from Everybody Loves Raymond and Christmas Vacation fame. My grandma absolutely LOVES Doris, so I just had to ask her to pose for a photograph with me and thankfully she obliged, which I could NOT have been more excited about. Smile Other celebs that we spotted out and about this weekend, but didn’t get photographs of were Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bai Ling, Frances Fisher, Gary Busey, Ed Asner, Pat Boone, Meat Loaf, Charo, Caroline Herrera (on her way to the Oscars in an absolutely STRIKING dress), Tara Reid, Brenda Strong (aka Mary Alice from Desperate Housewives), Gloria Allred, Noah Wyle, Taylor Armstrong from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Jessica Stroup (aka Silver from 90210), Glee’s Chris Colfer and Matthew Morrison, Jennifer Lopez (who is absolutely STUNNING in person!), Renee Zellweger, Russell Brand, Kirk Kerkorian, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Harvey Weinstein, Chace Crawford, Cate Blanchett, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (who are sooooo tiny in person it was almost unbelievable), Ron Jeremy, Jeffrey Ross, Fred Willard, Sofia Milos, Pierce Morgan, Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey, Jude Law, George Hamilton, Reese Witherspoon, Timothy Olyphant, Elton John, Craig Robinson (aka Darryl from The Office), Joanne Worley, and Antonio Sabato Jr.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Oscars are held each year at the Kodak Theatre, which is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. The Grim Cheaper and I usually drive up and down Sunset Boulevard during Oscar weekend, stopping into various hotels along the way to spot celebs. A few of the hotels we usually stalk include The Mondrian, which is located at 8440 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which is located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, which is located at 1755 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, and the Chateau Marmont, which is located at 8221 West Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.