Yes, it’s over. Reports on last night’s blowouts are still rolling in (just as some of the attendees are probably rolling in themselves), but of course the Oscar partying got started as far back as last Monday, so there’s plenty of ground to cover. Here’s what other media outlets and blogs are saying about the parties:
As Mark Karo reports in The Chicago Tribune’s “Pop Matters” blog, dueling parties took place at the Four Seasons-owned Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Wednesday. Giant magazine and Jamie Foxx held one, Black Enterprise the other. The result was an “eternally gridlocked driveway for valet parking” stranding “the hapless guests of the converging parties waiting for the valets to retrieve their rides home.” (This is a common problem for that venue—we’ve been stuck in the gridlock ourselves. Bummer.)
Sharon Waxman of The New York Timescovered the swag beat and how both companies and stars are navigating the I.R.S. policy regarding reporting big-ticket gifts on tax returns. She got quite a different story from participating vendors than we did—we’re betting her Times credentials made them clam up about how they really felt about the issue. We’re also wondering why an experienced Hollywood reporter was so taken with the not-exactly-new phenomenon of branded retreats giving away services as well as products. (Read our report on prepping for the tax man here.)
The folks at Jo Malone are loving USA Today right about now, as is whoever made the pillows at the Miramax pre-Oscar party. William Keck reports, “Bottles of perfume and candles by British fragrance house Jo Malone London, the event’s sponsor, gave the hotel’s Terrace Room a pleasing scent. But the hot item to nab on the way out were throw pillows bearing a colorful Andy Warhol-like quadrangle of images depicting [Helen] Mirren as The Queen.” (Kind of like the press Throx probably wanted for its presence at the Night of 100 Stars… but didn’t seem to get.)
SFGate.com’s Leah Garchick had this to say about the Vanity Fair party: “As to the food, deft waiters balance trays of little nibblies, then dessert, then all-American hamburgers, and lollipops and cookies with movie scenes on them, passing them out through a crowd so dense that the women’s Manolos are impossible to see. There are enough bars that there’s hardly ever a wait, but if there is, sometimes it may be[Clive] Owen waiting in front of you. That’s not a bad thing.”
Variety’s Monica Corcoran actually offered some advice to guests with a piece identifying some key do’s and don’ts for hitting the Oscar-party circuit. One anonymous planner lays down law: “Just say ‘no.’ Don’t RSVP if you don’t mean it. Some event planners have a secret blacklist of phantom guests who in the past have responded but never shown up. ‘If only I could out all the high-profile flakes in this town,’ moans one studio publicist. ‘It’s impossible to figure out how much food and alcohol to order.’”
Secret blacklist? Never.
Posted 02.26.07
As Mark Karo reports in The Chicago Tribune’s “Pop Matters” blog, dueling parties took place at the Four Seasons-owned Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Wednesday. Giant magazine and Jamie Foxx held one, Black Enterprise the other. The result was an “eternally gridlocked driveway for valet parking” stranding “the hapless guests of the converging parties waiting for the valets to retrieve their rides home.” (This is a common problem for that venue—we’ve been stuck in the gridlock ourselves. Bummer.)
Sharon Waxman of The New York Timescovered the swag beat and how both companies and stars are navigating the I.R.S. policy regarding reporting big-ticket gifts on tax returns. She got quite a different story from participating vendors than we did—we’re betting her Times credentials made them clam up about how they really felt about the issue. We’re also wondering why an experienced Hollywood reporter was so taken with the not-exactly-new phenomenon of branded retreats giving away services as well as products. (Read our report on prepping for the tax man here.)
The folks at Jo Malone are loving USA Today right about now, as is whoever made the pillows at the Miramax pre-Oscar party. William Keck reports, “Bottles of perfume and candles by British fragrance house Jo Malone London, the event’s sponsor, gave the hotel’s Terrace Room a pleasing scent. But the hot item to nab on the way out were throw pillows bearing a colorful Andy Warhol-like quadrangle of images depicting [Helen] Mirren as The Queen.” (Kind of like the press Throx probably wanted for its presence at the Night of 100 Stars… but didn’t seem to get.)
SFGate.com’s Leah Garchick had this to say about the Vanity Fair party: “As to the food, deft waiters balance trays of little nibblies, then dessert, then all-American hamburgers, and lollipops and cookies with movie scenes on them, passing them out through a crowd so dense that the women’s Manolos are impossible to see. There are enough bars that there’s hardly ever a wait, but if there is, sometimes it may be[Clive] Owen waiting in front of you. That’s not a bad thing.”
Variety’s Monica Corcoran actually offered some advice to guests with a piece identifying some key do’s and don’ts for hitting the Oscar-party circuit. One anonymous planner lays down law: “Just say ‘no.’ Don’t RSVP if you don’t mean it. Some event planners have a secret blacklist of phantom guests who in the past have responded but never shown up. ‘If only I could out all the high-profile flakes in this town,’ moans one studio publicist. ‘It’s impossible to figure out how much food and alcohol to order.’”
Secret blacklist? Never.
Posted 02.26.07
