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Oh ELLEN DEGENERES . . How I Love To Dance W/Thee

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  Ever since I got to LA in 2008, I have tried to get audience tickets to the Ellen DeGeneres Show. That show and Dancing with the Stars seem to be the hardest TV tickets to get in town. About two months ago, I was finally able to register for tickets for today’s taping. Lucky for my mom, she happened to be in town, so, I took her and two friends and on we went.

At the appointed hour, they let us into the Warner Brother’s Studio where the show is taped and lined us up in “The Ellen Store” where they sell all kinds of Ellen merchandise. While we waited, we could hear the guest musician practice inside the actual studio next door.

Once inside, we were greeted by the “warm up guy” who was pretty funny, handing out free Ellen t-shirts. He also had us all up on our feet dancing for a long time–it felt like a fun happy club atmosphere. Then with a few minutes left before the start of taping, Ellen herself came out and the audience erupted in deafening applause. She is truly adored by her fans. Who can blame us? She’s funny and has the kindest heart.

Once the show started taping, it was pure joy and the time flew by as if the whole thing were only15 minutes long. The guests that day were Kiefer Sutherland and some guitar playing whiz kid–pretty mundane if you ask me. But it didn’t dampen my mood; it was Ellen I was there to see and she did not disappoint.

One of the best parts of the day was Ellen surprising the audience by giving each of us a brand new Canon digital camera! Purple for the women and Black for the few men around. PERFECT gift for a blogger of course! She must have known I was coming!

There was a bit of a scare during the taping. The girl sitting immediately behind me went into epileptic convulsions during a commercial break and eventually passed out. There was a frenzy going on and no one on staff seemed to know what to do. Luckily, there was a nurse in the audience who came over to her and tended to the girl and took her outside. Even Ellen herself came up to make sure the girl was OK – Ellen is awesome that way.

And now, on to the most amazing part of today: For the past three months or so, I have become a real believer in visualization techniques. As in: think it, visualize it in your mind, and it will become real. And, it;s been working for me.  And for the past month, I kept telling everyone, I was going to dance with Ellen on her show. And believed it would happen. Everyone laughed it off…but it was me who had the last laugh.

As you may know, Ellen likes to dance with her audience every day and today, wouldn’t you know it; she danced right up to my seat, stopped, and danced with me for a few seconds 🙂  I am the girl in the crazy electric blue shirt 😉 and couldn’t have been happier. Thank you Ellen for the camera and thank you for dancing with me.

What is Azamat of Borat (Ken Davitian) Up To Lately?

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CELEBRITY ENCOUNTER.

  You have seen him in Get Smart and Soul Men. You’ve also seen him in countless TV shows including SNL, Ghost Whisperer and ER. But you know him best from his comedic breakthrough role on Borat as the ever lovable and completely too-naked sidekick, Azamat. Yes, he is the one and only Ken Davitian. I met Ken at the opening night of Chicago, the musical, playing at Pantages Theater, in Hollywood. I walked up to Ken during intermission and said, “Mr. Davitian.” He turned around and sweetly asked, “You know my name?” Of course Ken, of course. After all, I know everyone I have seen naked by name, first name at that. Ken agreed to take a picture with me but we were at once interrupted by a lovely theater usher who informed us that no pictures were allowed inside the actual auditorium. So, Ken kindly offered to walk all the way from the very front of the auditorium where we were to the outside so I could have my picture. Along the walk which took quite a while as Ken had just had knee surgery, he told me all about his upcoming movies A Fighting Chance and Melvin Smarty, both currently in post-production. We took our picture and I walked Ken back to his seat in time for the second act so he could rejoin his wife and son. Ken–you win my Fave Celeb of the Month award!

Can You Really Find True Love on TV?!

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[Update: This is a post I wrote in April. Click here for another post I wrote about an encounter with this couple earlier in June, just two weeks before their public breakup. Amazing how things change so quickly in the game of “love.”]  

If you ask Vienna Girardi, the answer is a resounding, “YES!” Contrary to everything you have read elsewhere, Vienna and Jake Pavelka, ABC’s most recent hookup on The Bachelor, are madly in love. STILL. I have seen them all around town being as lovey dovey as any other couple meeting in conventional ways. Vienna herself is sweet as pie in person, so, you can’t believe all the mean things you have read about her on other sites. Vienna told me that Jake is extremely adventurous and is taking her to Vienna, Austria this summer just because she is named after that famous city. When I told Vienna how cute a couple I found them to be, she pointed to Jake and emphatically said, “He is the real deal. He made me believe in love again.” AW! I am sure Jake has made many other viewers of The Bachelor believe in love all over again as well. Way to go Jake and Vienna.

Oh My! I Made An Appearance On TMZ!

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I saw myself on TMZ tonight!! SOOOO SURREAL! Does this mean I have made it in Hollywood?? Or that I have fully fallen into the dark abyss? You make the call. In the video clip, TMZ was interviewing Sanjaya of American Idol fame at the Mark Ballas Red Carpet Event I attended last night for Mark and HIS FRIENDS. What is really hilarious is that I met Sanjaya right after his interview with TMZ. We got to chatting, and I was curious as to what Sanjaya thought of Mark’s music. So, I asked him and he chuckled at first and then replied with a sneer, “I have never seen Mark perform.”  After watching his interview on TMZ, I now know why Sanjaya was laughing at my question. On the video clip, you can hear the TMZ crew asking Sanjya how he knows Mark to which Sanjaya responded, “I actually have never met Mark”. What a riot. So Harvey Levine and his TMZ crew proceeded to make fun of Sanjaya for showing up just for the Red Carpet publicity. I think TMZ is on to something considering every other celeb there was in fact a close friend of Mark’s….

Mark Ballas Dancing With The Stars & Singing Too…

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  Tonight, I was invited to a red carpet event at the Mint by my friend, Mark Ballas, a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars.  Mark is so sweet. And cute. We met about a year ago…He lives in my building and was walking by and couldn’t resist petting my dog, Jovi. I had been a huge fan of Mark for a while when I lived in Virginia and rooted for him to bring home the “mirrorball” trophy on Season 6 of Dancing with the Stars with partner Kristi Yamaguchi. So, it was a thrill to meet Mark and watch him and Shawn Johnson workout at my gym during Season 8 of DWTS. These guys worked so hard, and deserved the crown. In addition to dancing 6-8 hours a day, they worked out at the gym not once, but twice a day.

Mark is also an amazing singer. The red carpet event tonight was to celebrate the release of his CD, so, lots of his celebrity friends came out to cheer Mark on, including Derek Hough, Shannon Elizabeth, Chelsie Hightower, Jake Pavelka, Vienna Girardi, Nicole Scherzinger, The Pussycat Dolls, Aiden Turner, Cheryl Burke, Adam Shankman, Evan Lysacek, and Sanjaya just to name a few...

The Day I Fell In Love with Aiden Turner…Soap Opera Style…

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CELEBRITY ENCOUNTER.

  It started as just a typical day..I was having coffee with some friends on a beautiful spring LA day. My friends left me, and I noticed Aiden Turner was sitting at the table next to me. I knew who this beautiful man was, I just couldn’t for the life of me remember his name. “How can I possibly strike up a conversation with him if I don’t remember his name?” was all that was racing through my head.

So, I picked up my Blackberry and nonchalantly started to google “dancing with the stars cast list 2010”. With my head bent downwards towards the screen, I couldn’t possibly see Aiden walking towards me. “Are you getting any reception here?” whispered in the most beautiful British accent was all I needed to jolt me out of my search. I tried hard to cover my Blackberry, but not quite sure I succeeded. After a brief attempt to try to see why his phone had no reception, I thought I should introduce myself. “I’m Parisa by the way”.  “Aiden” was his response. And with that, the mystery of his name was solved.

I just had to have a picture with this man. And God bless him; he remained calm and cool as we tried to take 10 pictures together, each time failing as my stupid Blackberry was not cooperating. He just smiled bigger and bigger as each picture failed to save. Not that I minded either, because I got to hug him 10 different times. Finally, success. A picture was made and it is indeed worth a thousand words. Aiden and I then continued to speak for a while about his time on All My Children and Dancing with the Stars.

He was so surprisingly honest and open about his struggles in the industry. He admitted quite frankly that All My Children wrote him off of the show and he is now paving the pavement like all other actors looking for his next gig. When I met him, he was still on DWTS. As for DWTS, he said he gets nervous before each performance because it is “one take only” and it is “before a live audience.”  “I am not used to that; scares the crap out of me.” I told Aiden he needs to smile more when he is getting critiqued by the judges. “Aiden, it looks like you want to kill them!”  He laughed and promised to work on it. It was quite refreshing to hear such humility in Tinsel Town..and so, I fell…and fell hard. You know, in the soap opera kinda way; not for real 😉

Aiden Turner: Dancing With The Stars

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  It started as just a typical day..I was having coffee with some friends on a beautiful spring LA day. My friends left me, and I noticed Aiden Turner was sitting at the table next to me. I knew who this beautiful man was, I just couldn’t for the life of me remember his name. “How can I possibly strike up a conversation with him if I don’t remember his name?” was all that was racing through my head.
So, I picked up my Blackberry and nonchalantly started to google “dancing with the stars cast list 2010”. With my head bent downwards towards the screen, I couldn’t possibly see Aiden walking towards me. “Are you getting any reception here?” whispered in the most beautiful British accent was all I needed to jolt me out of my search. I tried hard to cover my Blackberry, but not quite sure I succeeded. After a brief attempt to try to see why his phone had no reception, I thought I should introduce myself. “I’m Parisa by the way”.  “Aiden” was his response. And with that, the mystery of his name was solved.
I just had to have a picture with this man. And God bless him; he remained calm and cool as we tried to take 10 pictures together, each time failing as my stupid Blackberry was not cooperating. He just smiled bigger and bigger as each picture failed to save. Not that I minded either, because I got to hug him 10 different times. Finally, success. A picture was made and it is indeed worth a thousand words. Aiden and I then continued to speak for a while about his time on All My Children and Dancing with the Stars.
He was so surprisingly honest and open about his struggles in the industry. He admitted quite frankly that All My Children wrote him off of the show and he is now paving the pavement like all other actors looking for his next gig. When I met him, he was still on DWTS. As for DWTS, he said he gets nervous before each performance because it is “one take only” and it is “before a live audience.”  “I am not used to that; scares the crap out of me.” I told Aiden he needs to smile more when he is getting critiqued by the judges. “Aiden, it looks like you want to kill them!”  He laughed and promised to work on it. It was quite refreshing to hear such humility in Tinsel Town..and so, I fell…and fell hard. You know, in the soap opera kinda way; not for real 😉