Welcome to the Live Blogging of the 2007 Whitney Awards!

Welcome to the Whitney Awards! If you are not familiar with how blogs work, the 'beginning' is at the bottom of the screen. So, scroll down to the bottom, start reading, and enjoy!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Getting underway!

We're just about ready to get underway here, watch for the bloggers to get started in the next few minutes!

ETA, 6:30

Since you, the readers, are unable to join us tonight, It thought I'd start off by describing the setting for the award ceremony tonight.

The committee has spared no expense. While the seating is limited, and the room small, the decorations are magnificent. There is a large stage at the front of the room, draped in reds and blacks. There is a large podium made out of some kind of beautiful hard wood. There are large video screens behind the podium so that those in the back of the room (20 feet back) won't miss anything. Right now the screens are showing scenes from Leave it to Beaver. That must play into the theme somehow, but I'm not quite sure how.

To each side of the podium, at the end of the stage, are two large ice sculptures. One is a life sized replica of Rob Wells (and while the artist is clearly skilled, he didn't quite capture Well's manliness, even though he carved Wells without a shirt on). The other ice sculpture is a bas relief carving of Madagascar. The significance escapes me, but it looks nice.

There are cages of monkeys lining both walls.

Everybody is decked out in their semi-formal wear. As you know, formal wear is Tuxedos and gowns. Since semi-formal is not as clear cut, there is a wide variety of costumes. By my count I see 8 people in black suits, 4 in blue suits, 1 in a pink suit (male), 3 kilts, 4 are in various leather outfits, and we have one person decked out in a 1970s style leisure suit. Nothing says semi-formal like polyester, baby!

They're rolling out the red carpet now, and the limos are lining up, I better go snap some photos.

5 comments:

Liz Adair said...

Wait a minute! I didn't see any monkeys in Hilary's pictures.

Terry Neff Allen said...

Wow,they sure brought a lot of things in after I left. I hope the monkeys' stench didn't ruin the dinner.

Marsha Ward said...

Hey! I didn't see any monkeys. I guess it's 'cause I was in far right field. Or maybe that was deep left field, from Rob Wells' viewpoint.

Oh, sorry, this is a basketball weekend, right?

Tristi Pinkston said...

That leisure suit was definitely on the other side of the room. From where I sat, I could only see the monkeys.

Karlene said...

I was over in the corner. Sometimes the monkey chatter was loud enough that I couldn't hear the presenter, but for most of the night they were quiet and under control.

Except for that one monkey that was throwing banana peels at all the winners...(made a real mess on Jessica's prom dress).