I’m at The Beverly Hilton on the red carpet soaking in the madness on the red carpet of the 75th Golden Globes Awards. Honestly, I don’t know how and why I continue to be asked to cover this event. But, I am so thankful, because the organized chaos of an awards show held at a hotel (instead of a traditional theatre venue) is something you should experience at least once. What’s it like? Take a look…

Most of you already know that the red carpet was painted black in a fashion sea of protests and Oprah practically announced her presidential candidacy with her powerful speech and Time’s Up was the theme of the politically charged night. But, as you know, all of the real fun happens off camera, including Tom Hanks making sure the martinis were served on point and over $20 million of jewelry and watches were worn last night.

Hanks, the four-time Golden Globe winner, impressively played waiter for his crew, delivering a tray of martinis while winding his way through the crowd.

As always there is a no-photo rule in the International Ballroom, but the Rock arrived and everyone wanted to smell what he was cooking. Dwayne Johnson, whose sixteen-year-old daughter Simone Garcia Johnson was this year’s Golden Globes Ambassador, had a posse of followers eager to breaks the photo rule. Looking extra handsome with his salt-and-pepper goatee and super white teeth obliged all.

The Rock with his daughter, Simone Garcia Johnson, and Thor (Chris Hemsworth)

If you saw the sea of black on the red carpet you know that most of the actresses in attendance signed on to the Time’s Up initiative. Their unity hit the forefront away from the cameras after Natalie Portman announced “the all-male nominees” for best director. Kerry Washington pumped her arms and gave a high-five to Eva Longoria who was sitting right next to her. Speaking of which…

Kerry Washington vamps at the after parties while Debra Messing and Eva Longoria look on.

Yes, it was a tough night to be a guy at the 75th Golden Globes. Women were abundantly vocal about harassment and their fight for gender parity*, however men were mostly quiet. Host Seth Meyers was a noteworthy exception, acknowledging that a white man may not have been the perfect host for the movement but filling his monologue with enough self-deprecation and righteous barbs to ease any concerns – or maybe he had some smart writers. Otherwise, mum was the word for men about the subject, with their biggest statements made in the form of fashionable lapel pins.

(*) I mean multiple Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams received less than 1% of Mark Wahlberg’s paycheck for reshoots of their film All the Money in the World. Yikes!

“I want to give room to the women that don’t normally have voices to talk about their sexual assault and rape and I’m listening. They need to know that it’s not their fault and they’re not dirty and that’s my message tonight.” –Viola Davis

The Feud Continues? When Jennifer Aniston appeared onstage, all eyes were on the Friends icon. Well, all except two, it seems. Seated at a table near the stage, Angelina Jolie appeared to look down and ignore Aniston as she presented an award. Super Awkward. 

Golden Globes Gallery

Alexi Ashe with hubby Seth Meyers on the carpet.

Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer have a Help reunion.

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel retained their throne a Hollywood’s Royal Couple.

Backstage, us writers in the press room had access to buckets of beer on ice.

Obi-Wan, er, Ewan McGregor, won for his role in Fargo.

Elisabeth Moss won for The Handmaid’s Tale while Connie Britton wore a $380 “Poverty is Sexist” sweater.

Penelope Cruz always dazzles.

Michelle Williams (right) with civil rights advocate Tarana Burke who started the #MeToo movement.

My tix to the show!

The post Eavesdropping at the 2018 Golden Globes appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

I’m at the beautiful Beverly Hilton standing on line to pickup my credentials for the Golden Globes on Sunday. Geez, there are a lot of people here. Are they giving credentials to every Mom Blogger on the planet? Wait, they are giving a credential to me so I should just shush.

So, as the line winded near the beautiful valet rotunda in Beverly Hills like some kind of surreal Dr. Seuss a was left with the rare treat of waiting and wondering.

What ever happened to those extinct delights of everyday life?

One might call them the disappearing Ws. Before the technological age that is now omnipresent and so integral of our lives (and has become our lives ) we waited. And the wondered. You waited in line…at the bank…the DMV…the checkout counter at Macy’s. We were ultimately lost in our own thoughts. There were no iPhones or smartphones or LED news crawls to mindlessly occupy us like we were toddlers searching for a pacifier or a six year-old needing the distraction of something shiny.

Nobody just stands and waits anymore.

Back then you might just might idle conversation with your linemates while waiting. People used to ask, “Excuse me do you have the time?” Now everyone has the time, all of the time!  People would say, “It sure looks like rain, eh?” Now

we’re two clicks from a detailed seven-day forecast on the Weather Channel app that comes standard on every Apple mobile device. Challenge someone to wait three minutes in line without touching their iPhone. Ninety seconds in, they’ll start fidgeting like some sort of heroin addict. Shame.

It is because of the smartphone and the Internet and its instant access to all that we have also forgotten the wonder of wondering. The phrase “bar room conservation” harks to a time where friendly debate took place because some questions were not instantly knowable:

“I wonder who sculpted Mount Rushmore?” and how long that took for someone to divine an answer.

“I wonder who won the Stanley Cup in 1942?”

“I wonder who was behind all those groundbreaking Esquire covers of the sixties and seventies?”

Now there are undoubtedly readers that already click clicked and accessed that info in seconds. Is that really fun? You can’t even make a decent bet anymore. Everybody can know everything instantly. How boring is that?

Who’s doing that crossword puzzle? You or Siri?

Actually intelligence is crashing through the floor because everyone has artificial intelligence. Pre-Internet you would have set the room abuzz if you were the one person who knew Mount Rushmore was sculpted by father and son Gutzon and Lincoln Borglum. The entire international education community system will gradually disintegrate as it dawns on people the magic wand is right in the palm of their hand.

I had a colonoscopy the other day. It was performed by a nine year-old with a do-it-yourself surgery app. (Well, not really, but it sure seems like it’s coming. Yet I digress…)

Any idiot can know everything now. The only thing that can’t be Googled is how to regale in the fine art of small talk while you wait, and wonder.

And with that little rant, I’m next; time to pick up my credentials.

Well worth the wait.

See you on the red carpet this Sunday.

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