Today (8/3/08) was interesting for several reasons. It was (sadly) my first solo ‘mission’, I was asked more times than I’d like to say ’so what high school do you go to?’, but I have fun highlights to share. From seeing (and saying hello to) Vanessa for the first time to watching some rockin’ performances by both the M&M and ACDC dance crew- it was a fantastically quick-paced and eventful experience.

I may have went into today not knowing even the names of all three Jonas Brother’s. But, I now know how to enter their fan club, met a pair of infamous LA based JoBros website owners, and due to the incessant chanting, screaming, hyperventilating, and overall excitement surrounding these insanely popular brothers, their names-Kevin, Nick, and Joe are now forever burned into my memory.

Noon:

I left my apartment at 12 noon, judging from past visits to CityWalk that there needed to be a fair amount of time allotted for traffic. Fate must have been on my side this morning because I was there in about twenty minutes flat. After taking only the necessary items I needed to have on me (keys, blackberry, chap-stick, inhaler) I parked and made my way over to the seatfiller.com meeting location.

Standing in Line:

Maybe I’m in over my head. I don’t know Nick’s birthday, I couldn’t tell you which Disney star Joe might be dating, and what is the older brother’s name?! Being utterly and completely out of the Jonas Brothers loop, I make nice with a surrounding group of girls. Come to find out they’re college students who are anxious to see Zac Efron. Sounds like my kind of people.

I won’t bore you with details about standing in line. It was hot, we were tired, and we basically resembled sheep being herded- nicely dressed and cute sheep, but nonetheless we were sheep.

My first “OMG Moment” happened when I glanced over and happen to see the entire gang from YouTube’s streetratpoon. Quickly making sure someone saved my spot in line I ran over, introduced myself and had a total fan moment as I chatted with Ian (my new boy crush) and the gang.

Inside the Gibson Theater:

Seat-fillers were brought in through Door 15 and allowed to watch the end of Miley’s dress rehearsal. Right away they started announcing various winners, so beforehand we knew most of the winners. Sure it takes away some of that ’surprise’ element, but everyone was in good spirits and so happy to be in the air conditioning that we didn’t really mind! LL Cool J’s sound check had us in stitches as he continuously asked for the side stage speakers to be re-tested over and again. Fergie, who closes out the show was also onstage presenting the winner of the ACDC vs. M&M dance-off.

“Please Take Your Seats”:

People started filing in FAST, so it was a matter of keeping up with the various ‘oh’s’ and ‘ah’s’ as celebrities quietly made their way down to the front of house and making sure you went and filled seats as needed. Second “OMG Moment” of the night occurred when I hear someone behind me say “excuse me”. I turn around to apologize to whomever I am blocking and am left standing face to face with Brenda Song (in the cutest little tiered, poofy, yellow mini skirt). The girl is petite and FLAWLESS. I quickly step aside as she and her two friends head toward their ticketed seats.

Blood curdling, ear drum rupturing screams emit from the left side of the theater and that only means one thing. The Jonas Brothers are in the building. A throng of teens, excited kids, even grown adults clamor over as camera flashes go off and three young looking dark-haired boys slowly make their way to their assigned couch. Words don’t begin to describe the evening’s reaction to the Jonas Brothers (who have a little segment they conduct throughout the show called “Ask the Jonas Brothers” where fans pre-recorded questions are answered by the boys). They truly are the Beatles of this generation.

Brittany Snow seems overwhelmed as fans scream when they notice who she is. I compliment Stephanie Pratt on her dress (we were specifically told NOT to talk to talent but she was wearing Betsey Johnson, so sue me.) I can’t find a photo of her at the TCA’s, Here’s a picture of Stephanie in the dress I noted, which she had on in black. Very cute:

 I hear whispers that Ashley Tisdale is in the house (not true, damnit!). Suddenly another uproar occurs and although I cannot see him, I know it must mean Zac has arrived. I watch in amusement as shrieks of his name, chanting, and dozens of flashbulbs go off as both professional and fan photographers seek a glimpse of him through their lens. I’m looking for Vanessa, even asking others around me if they’ve seen her to no avail. My “OMG” moment with her happens later. I notice his outfit and the fashion side of me takes over, furrowing my brow as I notice this:

I realize and note the variations of last versus this year’s award ceremony. He has obviously matured, so he does look different. Let’s just move along, shall we? (Zachary  David Alexander I find nothing funny about being nominated for a red carpet fashion award and pulling a stunt like this. Count this as your first official “strike”…you know the rest.) Okay, seriously I’m moving along.

Show-Time:

The vj/host (between sets and awards whenever Miley is not on-stage) comes out to welcome the crowd. I don’t catch his name but he’s a friendly guy who gets a bashful Zac to wave when he points out that he caused quite the commotion as he found his seat. Staff walk around handing out red ACDC crew shirts for the crowd to wear or wave around when they perform. It’s my only true ‘memento’ of the evening:

I’m checking where Zac is and think I spot Vanessa, but as I look closer the brunette with a long ponytail and dangling gold earrings doesn’t strike me as her. (Perhaps it was a seat filler? I’m really not sure.)

Miley opens the show with “7 Things”. I hadn’t heard the full song so seeing it live was awesome. She’s animated, the camera loves her, and I like the whole ‘rocker’ vibe she has going on. She sang live and did a really nice job. Oh, and on a side note the girl has legs for days. Jealous!

“And the winner is…”:

The cast of Gossip Girls win an award and all principle actors are on hand to accept the surfboard. One word to describe them would be: impeccable. All the guys look like Abercrombie and Fitch models and the girls are equally stunning. I LOVED Blake’s purple dress.

Will Smith (who hands down had the best speech of the evening, such an incredibly humble man), Rainn Wilson, Sophia Bush, Chace Crawford (who flubbed his lines but was a good sport about it) and Adam Sandler among many other stars all take the stage.

Another round of awards are handed out as the house lights come back up and out comes “the star of High School Musical 3…” Vanessa Hudgens. She’s tiny (but healthy looking) and my first thing is to check her outfit (sorry, it’s what I do). I’m feeling the tiered black and white dress she’s rocking and she seems happy to be on-stage. She presented the award for “Best Breakout Female TV star” (Blake Lively won). She had a little trouble with her lines (saying something along the lines of ‘I’m here to nominate…’ and once again during a later sentence) before the lights went down. It wasn’t a big deal and I look over to my left to see Zac’s reaction. He’s got a huge smile on his face and claps a little harder for her.

After several more awards Zac was introduced as ”the star of High School Musical 1,2, and 3“ (alongside Minka Kelly) and “Get Smart” won a surfboard, which Steve Carell accepted. I had a huge television prompter in front of me, so I maneuvered my way to the aisle to get a better look at him. He was calm and collected, suave and cool- the usual Zac. I also noticed he held out the beach towel several times to figure out with Minka how they would allow for the beach towels that served as the ”envelope” to unravel. After a few laughs they figured it out and moved to the opposite side of the stage to present the award. I gave an extra holler for him as he left the stage.

Later in the show:

I’m chatting with a blond next to me when one of the seat-filling staff comes over, frantic and practically yells “You two, down in front. NOW!” I had been waiting in the seat-filling holding area, just hanging out and watching the show, minding my own business, and BAM! We rush down to the front of the stage. I squeal inside as I look to my right and pass Jesse McCartney (more on him later Jb!). We’re being escorted down front as we walk past rows of couches. I have my third “OMG Moment” of the evening when I look toward the crowd  and I see big, brown eyes.

It’s Vanessa and my first reaction was simply ’smile’-which I did. The OMG part happens when she smiles back and says “hi”. I say ‘hi’ to her before the other girl and I are told to seat- fill two rows behind her. It was a brief but very cool moment. Her eyes are RIDICULOUSLY gorgeous. Very big and the most vivid shade of brown. Wow.

Although not quite over the shock of my brief exchange, I have my fourth “OMG Moment” when a brunette guy walks past (smelling really good, just throwing that out there) and the girl next to me goes “Oh god, it’s Zac Efron”. We are sitting TWO ROWS behind them. Miley comes over and chats with him as she waits for her cue. I tried really hard not to eavesdrop (believe me, it was hard since it felt a little wrong to spy on what they were saying) but given that they were close enough that we could easily hear their conversations… Miley was telling Zac something about “I can’t tomorrow morning” and he laughed saying “you are such a flake!”. She pouted but started to kid around with him once again. They appear to have that little sister, big brother sort of relationship. Several times throughout the show she came by to tease, joke (she gets him good at the beginning of the award show), or just chit-chat with Zac and Vanessa.

Note: All those rumors of some “war” between Miley/Selena/Demi? From the looks of it Miley chatted up the Disney duo as if they were old friends. No drama whatsoever.

What were Zac and Vanessa like?:

They did a lot of whispering. He had his arm around the backside of the couch where she sat whenever she was next to him, and she was leaning into him, using his leg sort of as an armrest. It was surreal to be that close to the two of them. At the end of the day they seem like fine young people. I know that might sound like a generic statement, but when I say fine I mean that Zac is incredibly gracious and Vanessa is just as poised. Each and every kid (and there were a lot) who sought an autograph, picture, or hug from him got one. Not once did I see him make a face or gesture that said he wasn’t happy to oblige. The look on kid’s faces when he would say ‘thank you’ or ‘Hi, I’m Zac’ was priceless. Vanessa signed a few autographs herself and happily chatted with Elijah Kelley (who sat with the two most of the evening). They both seemed to enjoy a good laugh with Fergie and Josh Duhamel who were seated on the couch directly in front of them.

No one bothered them more than they needed to. A professional photographer came by and took pictures of the two, and every now and then I would see Evan (Vanessa’s manager, who actually sat right next to me at one point- go figure!) go whisper something to Vanessa. I wanted so badly to give them a ZA Angels card (which I had on me) but the rules are incredibly strict that both the TCA staff (the young kids walking around with ‘crew’ tags- whom I heard several as well as other seat-fillers being scolded for talking to talent, yikes!) do not seek autographs or personal conversations with the talent. It was hard but I sat quietly next to Evan. Hopefully a more appropriate time presents itself in the near future for a ZA Angels ’shout-out’. *crosses fingers*

As I’m sure many of you know by now Vanessa won the award for “Choice Female Hottie”. I was sitting in the front of house during that moment of the show and had the perfect view of both she and Zac. He was SO proud- it was written all over his face. He gave her a hug before shouting “yeah!” and joining in on the applause. As she walked up, I thought of Ayen (wishing she could be there to see Vanessa) and Malia (because I noticed her legs, haha). Her acceptance speech was brief (she said she appreciated the award so much because it came from the fans) only because the entire house was yet again being brought down by the Jonas Brothers fans. They officially lost it when Nick, Joe, and Kevin won their surfboard. I couldn’t hear Vanessa or what the JoBros said very well, but I clapped and wooted all the same.

Looking over, I notice Evan approach Zac, who immediately gets up to leave right after she accepted her award. Adam Shankman came down and Zac gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug goodbye. They seem more like they are good friends rather than shifting awkwardly through stiff mannerisms like some co-workers. I said ‘aw’ out loud when I saw Zac do that. While trying to leave a small frenzy occurred, but he shook hands with and gave a few lucky girls hugs before slipping out of a side door.

The rest of the evening proved to be exciting. Lauren Conrad’s long hippie-inspired dress competed with Blake Lively’s frock for my personal favorite looks of the evening. I sat two rows behind the Beckhams when David won his award. I watched their little boys meet the Jonas Brothers and Miley (Their kids are too cute! Romeo is going to be a little heart-breaker and Cruz did his infamous break-dancing on-stage after daddy accepted his award, which brought even Victoria to her feet, although he had a hard time leaving the spotlight. David had to carry the little one, screaming and crying out of the Gibson theater. Aw…) I’m not too bummed Zac didn’t win any surfboards this year. Now that Vanessa has a matching “Choice Hottie” board, they could go surf on them together?…It’s called optimism people!

Highlights/Funny Moments:

• Saying ‘hi’ to Vanessa
• Receiving a smile from Zac *THUD*
• Getting to cheer for both Zac and Vanessa when they were onstage
• Watching “7 Things” Live
• Sitting two seats down from Jesse McCartney (Jb, it’s official, he’s a hottie.I thought of you while looking at him!)
• Seeing the ACDC and M&M dance-off
• Zac coming back from presenting an award. The crowd began to scream rather loud and he looked rather confused toward our section and mouthed ‘Is that for me?’ He gave a small, awkward wave before shrugging, blushing, and taking his seat (the applause wasn’t for him-whoops!). Adorable.
• Saying ‘hi’ to Scarlett Johansson (she’s sensational!)
• Seeing tons of Betsey Johnson dresses in the house (woot!)
• An overzealous girl being told by her father that if she lost her voice she’d still have to go to tennis lessons the next day with no complaints.
• Seeing Joe Jonas up-close and personal. *le sigh*
• Girls in line discussing the Choice Hottie award, causing one to quip up that “They should just have an entire category called “Zac Efron”). Amen.

I hope I’ve given you guys a detailed enough mini-novel describing what my day at the Teen Choice awards was like. If any of you live in the Los Angeles (or Southern California) area and are interested in seat filling or attending award show red-carpet arrivals, visit seatfiller.com to register.

Photo Update:

Pic Source: TCA (rendering by Audrey), Betsey Johnson,  Zefron, jeezbee122