Donna in Hollywoodland

Donna Grayson

Friday, October 21, 2005

The Award Show

Finally, close to 5 pm, I arrived at the Beverly Hilton .
My hair disaster repaired, and no magic marker from the doctors all over my chest. I was in an evening gown, and I was very excited about the evening.

This is the sixth year I have volunteered at the American Cinematheque
Awards Presentation. This year, the Award went to Al Pacino .

My job was to do the Guest check-in. I sat behind a table on the Red carpet, and I had the stack of tickets with last names that begin with the letter "S" . When the guests would arrive and give me their name - then I would give them their ticket.
It was a very easy job.
Except when a Celebrity arrived and walked in via the Red carpet.
All the camera people would start taking hundreds of photos.
Then all the fans who had gathered in the lobby behind the ropes, would start screaming.
There was so much excitement from all these people, you could feel Electricity in the air.
The entire area was filled with adrenaline.

Everything just had to stop for that celebrity.
I have never been that near a Red Carpet before, and it was amazing.

I was trilled a few days later, when I looked at GettyImages.com
and I saw a picture of Keanu Reeves and Me together ....
Ok, well ..... we are not together. He has his back to the camera, and he is waving at the fans.
I am sitting at the Check-in counter with the tickets that begin with "S", and I am all blurry.
But its better that nothing.

Click on the picture below, to see a bigger picture. Thats me on the right, by the red plant.

Speaking of Keanu ... I got myself in kinda sorta big trouble tonight.

After the celebrities had their dinner, and the volunteers had our dinner - the Award Ceremony honoring Al Pacino started.
The volunteers had rows of chairs towards the back. I was sitting and watching all the speeches and film clips.
One of my volunteer friends comes up to me 'Guess who I was talking to?"
I said "Who?"
He said "Keanu - over by the wall next to the bathrooms- we were talking."
I replied "You did ! Oh, my what happened ?"
He said "Now that I've met him, let me go and introduce you."
"No, no" I replied "Its against the Rules. We'll be in trouble. Volunteers aren't supposed to talk to the celebrities. Besides, I have no idea what to say."
And I sat back down.

As I sat there, I started to think. This is the sixth year I have volunteered at this Award Ceremony - and I have never, ever talked to a celebrity. Now, I have the chance to be introduced to one of my favorite actors. I should do it, just this once.
I went and found my friend.
"Okay, Okay, go ahead - introduce me to Keanu. But what should I say? I have no idea what to say."
My friend says "Say whatever you want."

Keanu was over by the bar. And as we walked toward it, he walked away.
We stood there for a second, my friend figuring out what to do.
Keanu was now standing just outside the ballroom, in a courtyard area. My friend took off towards it, with me following.

My friend starts to talk. Oh, wait - Charlize Theron is standing right next to Keanu. What are we supposed to do?
I just follow my friends lead, because I have no idea what to do in a situation like this.
And then my friend says something really strange "Keanu, I would really like to introduce you to my Cousin."
What in the flippin' heck is my friend saying ? Cousin ? huh ?
I extend my hand, and Keanu shakes it. I say "Actually Keanu, I'm not his cousin, I volunteer with him over at the Egyptian Theatre. We are both volunteers there."
Keanu nods.
And then, the nice dedicated volunteer is gone, and I turn into a Nutty Fan.
I am just running off at the mouth about how he is my favorite actor, and at a church retreat years ago I chose "A Walk in The Clouds" as the evening entertainment, and everyone loved it.
Keanu said something like "Thanks, that was a sweet movie." And he looks at the floor alot.
I look at my friend, and he says a sentence or two.
Then I say "Thank you, it was so nice meeting you."
Keanu nods, and my friend and I leave.
We forgot to say anything to Charlize. Oh, dear.

That was nerve-racking. Talking to a celebrity. My friend can do it with ease and style. While I am just a bundle of nerves.
But it was exciting.

(Note: A few days later volunteer #A, who shall remain anonymous, emails me. Another volunteer, Volunteer #B, whose name they will not give me -is reporting me to the American Cinematheque for talking to a celebrity during the Award show.
Okay, I figured it would be coming. It was against the rules to be talking to the movie stars.
Now I am officially in trouble.
So I send a nice, long, apologetic email to the person in charge. And I apologize. Also stating that this is my 6th year, and it is the first time I have ever made a slip-up, and it will never happen again.
An email comes back, yes, they had been told about my slip-up already, - and my apology is accepted.
The Crisis is averted.)

The Award Ceremony ended with a wonderful Acceptance Speech given by Al Pacino, where he talked about his faith in God.
It was so amazing and touching.

The volunteers had a few more duties to do. Mainly collect Programs that were left behind at the tables.
Then we hung out and took pictures of eachother. Many of us hung out at Trader Vics for a while.
I got home at 3am.

Click on the picture, to see it bigger:

If you want to see more volunteer pictures, they are here:
Flickr Volunteer Set

If you want to see pictures of the Celebrities and Award Ceremony, they are here.

Wire Image

Getty Images

Daily Celeb

And if you want to watch the show, it will be televised on AMC TV January 6th 2006.

posted by Donna Grayson # 11:33 PM (0) comments

Horrible Fashion Disasters

I left the hospital radiology department, and went directly to the nail salon and beauty parlor.

I would not have time for a pedicure, the shoes are close-toed anyway. So it will be a manicure only.
I explained to the guy, not to cut on my left hand because I had had surgery on that side. (I wasn't going to try to explain lymph nodes to him.)
As I sat having my nails done, it struck me how I am so afraid of all the toxic substances they use at the hospital - Yet here I sit in a nail salon, inhaling toxic substances, and putting them on my fingers.
Ah, such is the price for beauty.
I had my nails done in a nice frosted copper color.

After the nails were done, I went next door to the hair salon. This is the place I usually get my trim. I figured they could do a nice formal hair style for me. Oh, no....

I showed the Stylist, who was an older ethnic women - russian, armenian, german, something like that - a picture of Jennifer Lopez .
Okay, I know there is no way I will look like JLo. But the hairstyle was really nice.
Large waves, soft and flowing, very sexy and stylish.

They stylist put me in very large rollers. Okay, good start.
I sat under the dryer for a half hour. My hair did not want to dry. Bad hair, bad, bad.
She took out the rollers and started hair-spraying my hair.
Lots and lots of hair spray. My hair was as hard as a brick. So much for the soft.
Then she started to teeze my hair, giving it lift at the crown. So much for the flowing waves.
Next, she curled my bangs into one big round curl on my forehead - that wasn't in the picture.
More and more hairspray.

Oh, dear Lord - I don't look like JLo - I look like a little ethnic woman. On her way to mass at the orthodox church.
Ahhhh - I look like the Hair Stylist !!!!
Or one of her little ethnic friends !!! Lets eat borsch together. Or Sauerkraut.
What happened to sexy JLo ???!!!???

This was such a disaster.
But the little woman was so proud of her work, I couldn't tell her.
Luckily, it was cheap, not an expensive salon.
I tipped her, and told her how much I loved it.
She was so round and old and happy.

On the drive home, I told myself "All I have to do is brush it out."
I head directly to the bathroom. I start brushing my hair.
All that hair spray - its dried out and flaking.
I look like I have Dandruff !!!

It is now 3 o'clock. I wanted to be at the Beverly Hilton alittle early at 4. Thats not going to happen.
I need to wash my hair.
I will end up getting there about 5, just in time for my shift at the check-in table to start.

Then I look - there is black marker all over my chest from the hospital CT scan this morning.
I had forgotten. This can not be happening .... but it is.

They told me to take rubbing alcohol to get the marker off. It smears.
I used like 10 cotton balls.
I finally get most of it off, then I jump in the shower and - finally - start getting ready.

posted by Donna Grayson # 4:42 PM (0) comments

Morning - Radiology

Quote:
"I can't die. It would ruin my reputation"
Jack LaLanne - the fitness guru, who was born in 1914, and who is still going strong. I saw the quote in a magazine, and I just had to write it down.
----------------------

I took a vacation day because I am volunteering at the American Cinematheque Awards tonight.
And for some reason, I let the doctors convince me to come in this morning, to do some things. They basically needed to take the Xrays and a CT scan, to see where to aim the Radiation beams for my Breast Cancer Therapy.
And they promised I would be out of there by noon.

Basically, they took some Xrays. Wrote all over my chest with magic marker.
Then they placed to little tattoo dots on me. One between my breasts, and the other at the end of my left breast. There is a board I will be laying on, and they needed all the measurements and diagrams for that.

Then, because I am rather - ummm - large chested , they made these two little styrofoam looking blue blocks. These will be placed underneath my breast during the radiation treatments, to lift it up. They said that way there will be less
radiation burns in the fold of my skin.

Then I has to run over to the hospital to get a CT scan.
I told the technician "I need to be out of here by noon."
She said, "Oh don't worry - once we get you into the radiology department, they will be as Quick as a Bunny getting you out."

I had about a half hour to wait before the CT scan. I sat in the courtyard and treated myself to a Iced mocha drink.
Then I went over to the Radiology Dept. The TV show "ER" was on the waiting room television.
Not a good show to be watching at this time, I tried to ignore it. Not that you could really see it. The TV was broken, and there was a huge fuzzy line running through the screen. I pulled out my cell phone and started to play the games.

When they called me in, the technicians from radiology came over. They glued little plastic-looking lines to the magic marker lines that were on my skin.
Thank heavens this CT scan contained no drugs or toxic liquids or isotopes. I've had enough of those nasty things for a lifetime. They basically just needed a CT scan to get a view of where my major organs were, so when they give the radiation treatments to my breast they can hopefully stay away from all the important parts in my body and just hit the breast.

I got claustrophobic going through the CT scanner. Which is kind of silly, because its just a big donut.
You go through, and you come right out the other side. There is no tunnel to it like an MRI. But there are whirring noises and things spinning around on the machine. So it frightened me a bit. And I acted like a big baby.
Whenever things would whir or spin, I'd whine "Oh, no - whats happening now?"
And then the table moves by itself, feeding you through the donut.
I was just glad when it was over.

The doctors and technicians were very interested in whatever diagrams and planning they were doing with the results.
They told me to just go ahead and change back into my clothes.
When I went to the changing room, I saw all the little plastic markers where still glued to me. And some of them were under my armpit - towards the back. So I couldn't reach it.
I had to go back out to the doctors and technicians. Their heads were all buried in the paperwork and computer readings.
"Ummm, exuse me - Can someone help me get these little plastic things off my skin?"

One woman technician helped peel them off.
And then I was out of there.

posted by Donna Grayson # 12:29 PM (1) comments

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Fierce People Preview

I received a free pass to the Hollywood Film Festival screening of Fierce People , a new movie coming out at the beginning of next year. The free pass was one of my benefits of being such a hard-working volunteer !
It was in one of the larger Arclight Theatres , so I sat in the very front row. (In some of their theatres, even the front row is really far away from the screen.)
It was nice to just go to a movie, sit down, and relax. Not have to worry about volunteering or anything. I haven't done that in a while.

The movie stars both Donald Sutherland and Diane Lane .
From what I read before going there, Donald Sutherland was supposed to speak after the movie.
Before the movie started, the Director, Griffin Dunn , came out and introduced his cast in the audience, including Donald Sutherland.

I really liked the movie. The story is very powerful and moving. It really shows the difference between very wealthy people and those how "have not" - especially in the younger crowd. Of course, the acting in it is just fabulous.

After the movie, the Moderator, Director and Cast came out for a panel discussion. And no Donald Sutherland. I guess he left. I was really bummed. He is such a great actor, I really wanted to hear him. Oh, well - I guess he is on that TV show, Commander in Chief , so maybe he has an early filming schedule.

Dianne Lane and Griffin Dunn did most of the answers during the Q&A. The rest of the cast was there as well as Dirk Wittenborn the Screenwriter and books author.

During the discussion, sound seemed to be carrying into the theatre from the lobby, You could hear people talking at a really weird level - almost like ghosts or something. Diane Lane said "Is there a radio on ? Does anyone else hear that?"
And when the Moderator said Yes, there are people talking somewhere. Diane Lane said "Oh, good - as long as its not just me." She has a really nice sense of humor.

As I left the theatre, I happened to be walking right next to Diane Lane. What do you say to someone famous you admire?
Oh, dear - I wanted to say something, to let her know how much I enjoyed the movie - and she was wearing such a pretty scarf.
But I never know what to say to celebrities. So I didn't say anything.

Its a really good movie. And when it is released at the beginning of the year, I recommend you go see it.

posted by Donna Grayson # 11:20 PM (0) comments

Rain Rain and Gas on 10/17/05

Its pouring. And thundering .
Usually in Los Angeles, if we really have a Storm - it happens in the evening.
Todays storm has been happening all day long.

I work in a highrise building. The power kept flickering on and off. About 5 times.
Luckily, our computers were okay.
But the elevators got messed up, and some of them stopped working.

I had to run some errands on my lunchbreak.
Pick up my evening gown from the Drycleaners, pay the phone bill - that kind of thing

I stopped at a Gas Station.
I put in my ATM card. I filled up my tank. And its very expensive now.
I waited for the confirmation asking me if I wanted a receipt.
Nothing.

The ATM thingy was frozen.
I hit a few buttons. It went back to square one "Select Grade, Slide ATM card".

So in the pouring rain, I got my purse and ran into the gas station.

"Pump #4 - I just filled my tank, and your ATM froze. Did my transaction go through?" I said to the cashier.

"No, it didn't" the sour-puss cashier stated. He was grumpy.

"Ha, ha - gee - Does that mean I get free gas ? Or do you want to put my card through again?"

He gave me a semi-dirty look. "Yeah, give me your card."

I said "Oh, I work in the high-rise over on Vine St, we have been having power outages all morning."

He seemed surprised. "Oh, its power outages." Like he didn't realize the thunder and bad storm could do this kind of thing.

No "thank you". No nothing. Just bad attitude. And here I was being honest, and paying for my gas.
Not one nice word from the cashier.

Well, I figure its more to my benefit to be honest anyway. One time a grocery charge didn't go through on my ATM.
And it showed up 2 months later after the supermarkets accounting office balanced their books. After 2 months, I didn't know what it was and had to call the store to verify it.
So I figured I might as well say something, with modern technology, they are just going to catch the problem eventually.

But whatever - the cashier should have at least said "Thank you".

posted by Donna Grayson # 8:37 PM (0) comments

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

More Florence Scovel Shinn Quotes

Meditation:
Divine Design of my life will manifest. Let the Genius in me be released.
Let me see clearly God's perfect Plan.

Poise is Power

The Lord loves a Cheerful Receiver - as well as a Cheerful Giver.
Be ready to Receive.

The Real Person - The Spiritual Person - is both Birthless and Deathless.

Your Freedom comes by fulfilling your Destiny.

posted by Donna Grayson # 8:34 AM (0) comments

Monday, October 17, 2005

Funny Celebrity Story

I have a funny celebrity story to tell you.
I started to volunteer at a New Place. Which will remain nameless for the purposes of this story. Just in case I plan to go back there and volunteer again.

There was a Actor speaking on a panel at the end. This Actor has been nominated for Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, you name it.
A very distinguished older gentleman.
His grandchildren had even come to the event to hear him speak.

During my volunteer shift, they had no chairs there for the volunteers. I was there for five hours.
I finally asked for a chair, and they brought be a folding chair, which I used during my shift.

Everyone was in the theatre watching the production. It was only myself and the theatre staff.
Then this Well-respected actor came in, with his assistant, a professional photographer and the theatre manager and a few other "important" people.
All these people had to stand in the lobby without any chairs.
And the production still had a good half hour to go.

I was very polite, and stayed where I was, doing my "volunteer" thing.
This Actor was at the other end of the theatre, to my left. He decided to sit on some steps.

Suddenly, the theatre manager rushed over to me, and made a big fuss "Give me that chair!"
I stood up quickly "Of course", I said.

The manager ran over to the Actor with the folding chair, and put it down next to him, next to the stairs.

I saw what had just happened, and quickly walked to the right, towards the lobby doors and away from this Famous Actor.
I did not look in their direction for a bit.

When I did, I quickly glanced at the chair. It was still there empty.
This distinguished actor refused to sit in it.
I could only imagine he must have been totally embarrassed.

Here is this chubby little 40-something year old lady (that would be me), and they kick her out of her chair, just so he could sit down.

As if to confirm my thoughts, the Actor got up from the stairs, and rushed out of the theatre to the street.
He then stood out in the street for the remainder of the time, until it was his turn to go into the theatre for the discussion panel.

I felt really bad for him. Here is a distinguished gentleman, who seemed very nice and down to earth. And I am sure he was completely embarrassed.

Later, everyone had left the lobby, this Famous Actor was in speaking with the Panel in the theatre.
It was just me and one employee in the lobby.
I looked around alittle bit.
And there, in a storage closet, were three more folding chairs. Stacked together and not being used.

posted by Donna Grayson # 10:30 PM (0) comments

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Breakfast and Movies

One good thing about going to a really large church, is that I went to church last night on Saturday. That left my Sunday free for other things.

I met two friends for breakfast at Mel's Diner in Hollywood. It was weird, I was in a fog about what to eat. I ended up ordering Steak and Eggs. Something I never get.

As we talked the topic turned to Vitamins and Supplements.
One of my friends said a doctor once told his mother that she would just pee out her vitamins.
And so his mother said "So that must mean that I pee out all the medications you give me as well."
I think that shut up that doctor.

My plan was to go get my hair trimmed before I went to the movies. But I didn't have time. So forget that.

I did stop off at Big Lots and the 99 Cent Only store.
A friend of mine discovered this new thing.
You know how when you burn a candle, the burning wick is a fire hazard ?
Well, she bought one of those coffee cup warmers - they are like mini hot plates.
You get a small scented candle, in a glass jar.
Place the candle thats in the glass on the coffee cup warmer, and turn it on.
The candle melts from the bottom, and you can smell the scent.
And you don't have to worry about the little flame thats burning.
So I stopped in a few stores, looking for a cheap coffee cup warmer .
I didn't find it.

I drove to the "Laemmle's Music Hall" theatre on Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills.
My plan was to spend the afternoon at the movies.

The first movie was "Everything is Illuminated" . Starring
Elijah Wood as a man who goes back in search of the woman who saved his grandfather. I especially liked the direction by Liev Schreiber .

Then I had a good 45 minutes to kill in between movies.
Well, there is nothing around that area at all. No coffee shop of any kind.
So I went to Sav-Ons and did some shopping. Mainly cosmetics.
Oh, and I found the coffee cup warmer .
And I took some pictures of the surrounding buildings.
Hmmmm, I forgot to take a picture of the movie theatre.

Then for my second movie I saw "Thumbsucker" .
I mainly wanted to see it because Keanu Reeves was it in. He played an orthodontist.
I really liked this movie too.

So that was my day of breakfast and movies. As I drove home, there was a light rain, and it was cold.
Fall weather in Los Angeles.

posted by Donna Grayson # 8:23 PM (0) comments

The Sky in Hollywood

Beautiful clouds on 10-15-05.
Then it rained - totally poured - for a few days after that.