B-Side Blog Attends QVC Red Carpet Party, Invades Personal Space

In case you didn’t hear, the Oscars happened this weekend, and Los Angeles officially entered celebration mode — a mode it’s actually been in for three weeks, what with the NBA All-Star Game and Grammys taking up party real-estate for the prior two Sundays. Naturally I was more than eager to take part in the festivities; so when Fox 411 writer Meaghan Murphy invited me to join her at the QVC “Buzz on the Red Carpet” event on Friday, I leapt at the opportunity.

Now I know what you’re saying: QVC had a red carpet event? They did. And here’s what’s crazy: legitimate A-Listers and Oscar nominees showed up, including Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Lawrence, and eventual winner Melissa Leo. Of course, I saw none of them, but I did spend a solid ten minutes next to Mark Ruffalo at the valet stand when I left. Spoiler alert: he’s really short (and also quite friendly).

Anyway, more trifling celebrity stories as well as a few pictures after the jump…First of all, I’d like to mention that QVC throws a mean party. This thing was held at the Four Seasons Hotel, which served up a wide variety of delicious hors d’oeuvres (always the most important part of any party, after the crowd). I may have stuffed my self with about fifteen tiny blinis with caviar, and that was after the massive amount of tartare canapes (tuna AND steak!), smoked salmon potato pancakes, and crab salad tostadas. Less impressive: the grilled cheese bites. Who do they think we are? PEASANTS? I mean, C’MON.

Anyhoo, when I wasn’t intercepting servers, I was trying to keep my feet dry. You see, we had torrential downpours in LA on Friday, and despite the event having been tented off, the water snuck in. All the grass was a muddy mess, causing all the women in high heels to sink quickly whenever they strayed from the dry land (which in this case was a three-foot wide red carpet that everyone clamored onto whenever the QVC cameras weren’t hogging up the space). I wouldn’t say this was the Four Season’s greatest logistical moment (their biggest fail came with a bottlenecked valet situation that drove everyone mad).

Well, as the TV hostesses hawked dresses and accessories live on the air with the likes of Isaac Mizrahi and the Kardshians (the latter of whom I missed), various stars entered the fray. They ranged from D-list (Vienna from The Bachelor, Gretchen and Slade from The Real Housewives of Orange County, Karina Smirnoff from Dancing with the Stars) to the impressive (the Oscar nominees, Donald Trump — who I saw from afar but didn’t get to speak to, Alfre Woodard). I particularly enjoyed seeing Barbara Hershey, who I gushed to about Black Swan. I told her she was criminally overlooked during this past awards season, and she clasped my hands and informed me that she’s really not as awful as her character. I then said, “I HOPE NOT” before noting that she was terrifying. She laughed, and for one minute, we were besties. A similar thing happened with Tichina Arnold, except it was more of a me saying “I LOVE YOU” and her saying, “Oh that was so sweet!” and then me continuing to walk away and her turning to her friend and saying, “That was so nice!” Probably not my smoothest hobnobbing, but it felt right.

Of course, I’m anything if not shameless; so here are just a few pictures I took at the party. Enjoy:

The party. You can see the small red carpet situation. The picture does not fully capture how soggy the grass was; however, you can tell by the dismayed body language of the gentleman on the left. Looked like he picked the wrong day to wear a shiny silver suit.

This pic shows the puddles better. Also, up the stairs in the background was the live telecast.

Isaac Mizrahi with a hostess who I shall affectionately call Lady.

Everyone stays far from the grass; although one man’s shoe is coming PERILOUSLY close.

Joe Manganiello (a.k.a. the werewolf from True Blood) I don’t even watch True Blood, but I knew I needed to get a pic because a) fanboys would be jealous, b) girls would be jealous, and c) seriously, it’s the WEREWOLF FROM TRUE BLOOD.

My old chum Dr. Will. He informed me that the zipcode in the United States that purchases most from QVC is… 90210. Who would have thunk it?

Morena Baccarin from V and Firefly. She was totally sweet, and I happily reminded her that we once sat next to each other on JetBlue about five years ago. She shockingly didn’t remember but said that she LOVED that I did. And you know what? I BELIEVE HER.

A blurry image from inside the gifting suite. I wound up there by accident; so naturally I gawked. Everything there was cosmetic crap. Why not an AppleTV or a FlipCam??

A picture of me with an oversized Melania Trump. Quite frankly, this was almost as exciting as having seen her in person (which, thankfully, I did get to do earlier).

Kelly Rutherford a.k.a. LILY VAN DER WOODSEN from Gossip Girl on the red carpet. I can assure you that I was hardcore geeking out. But not as much as when Meaghan took the next picture:

A picture WITH Kelly Rutherford! This was a ridiculous moment. I professed my love for Kelly, extolling her presence on Gossip Girl and saying that she brought a much-welcomed gravitas to the role. Could I have sounded more pretentious? Probably not. That’s probably why she looked shellshocked for the first fifteen seconds of our interaction. For her part, Kelly was actually very nice, and it was she who suggested we take a picture. Unfortunately, the flash did something weird, and it came out blurry, but I can tell you that my excitement has never been more focused (see what I did there?).

And that was pretty much it. Thanks for the invite, Meaghan. It made for a fantastic Facebook album. Oh, and speaking of which, be sure to “Like” B-Side Blog’s official page (and follow me on Twitter while you’re at it).