Last night I couldn't sleep and was flipping through the channels when I saw Vice Chairman and CEO of McDonald's, Jim Skinner, the recipient of the Skill Award at the recent 1st Annual John Wooden Pyramid of Success Awards presented by HAX Foundation which I attended this past Saturday night, interviewed on TMZ.
(Is that a run-on? Where's my editor?!)
Yes, embarrassed to admit, occasionally I do slum and get sleazy entertainment news from this show. VERY rarely, but it is fun escapism except when they're mean. It really surprised me to see a local South Bay event featured, but then again, Max, the long-haired surfer dude, does live locally and everyone here in the South Bay is really into sports.
Still. Very funny. Here's the clip on what they asked him. (I think it will show up, if not and you're still curious, look up McDonald's CEO - Super Size video on there. lol) I bet TMZ would be really mad they missed the McDonald's protester who bum rushed the stage to tell everyone how awful McDonald's was to animals just before Jim spoke to receive his award.
She had to be dragged off stage. I had seen her earlier and she looked drugged. A tiny Japanese lady. Totally funny!
I tweeted the evening if you care to watch the progression of the evening. LOL Everyone mocked her afterward which was very funny (guess she had to get back to her shift at Burger King was one comment and she was just following Wooden's Pyramid of Success of intentness was another which made us all laugh.)
The rest of the evening went without a hitch. My friend, Ann Friday, who I had worked with at the World Animation Celebration was working this show and we joked after that there's no such thing as bad publicity. It was really nice to see her again.
I also bumped into another friend I had met at a networking event who created all the beautiful signs for the night. We were all going to take a pic together at their special photo "booth", but the battery died and she ended up taking this pic for us instead. Can't believe I'm spacing on her name.
Myself and my shorty friends, Ara and Angelique, were guests of John Gardner of Bank of Manhattan who had a table. We were joined by the bank Chairman's mother, another bank representative, my friend/ bank rep, John Gardner, Doug and Melanie McMillan of Telecom Insight, and two women whose name I didn't catch, but were thrilled that the USC v OSU game was playing on multiple flat screen TV's displayed on the walls above the area.
HAX thought of everything. (Here's a pic of all of us who stayed till the end.)
Many guests were into watching the game too which was really funny during the auction when USC won and a loud cheer went up. The comedic auctioneer, Chris Spencer, was hilarious and handled it quite well. I was expecting another boring live auction, but it was nothing like that with Chris running the show.
He deftly popped back and forth between comedically mocking black and white people with truths that made you have to laugh along because you knew he was right on the money all the while upping the ante for auction sales quite successfully.
I think he might have made some people uncomfortable, but I thought Chris was hilarious. Get that man another show!
(Speaking of humor, don't you love ETrade baby commercials? I always lol! Oh, and Shaq? I love his Shaq v. whoever show. He's hilarious too! I'm telling you. I should get a job with athletes - I think it would be a lot of fun if Shaq against Michael Phelps is any indication.)
Moving right along, there was a very nice silent auction and special music by The Brown Sisters during dinner.
We all enjoyed the delicious buffet dinner prepared by Intimate Affairs Catering. Have to admit, I chuckled when I saw fried chicken on the buffet, but it was deeelicious! Finger licking good! The entire meal was - lots of healthy choices too, don't worry.
When we arrived security was telling us we had to walk the red carpet, but I told him, look we're nobody's we'll walk around. Guess who we would have followed if they had made us? Laila Ali! She was honored with the Competitive Greatness Award.
Here's a page from the program highlighting all the awards if you can read it.
HAX is a great facility and I'm very impressed with their Foundation. "The HAX Foundation helps at-need children gain access to educational and athletic programs in the Los Angeles area."
I believe this awards ceremony was a fundraiser - I got invited kind of last minute and only knew it was Coach John Wooden's event which clinched the deal since I respect him so much having heard him speak on the difference between winning and success on TED.
As a result, I was rather bummed we didn't get to hear Coach Wooden speak, but at 99 years of age (if I heard them right) you can't expect him to be everywhere. The evening was wonderful regardless. I hope they raised a lot of money!
Dick Vitale, honored with an Industriousness Award, sent a video acceptance speech due to family commitments, and was a lot of fun to watch even remotely. Baby! Never ever have I seen a man use his hands as much as he did in that short video!
I've never been into sports except for soccer and volleyball and never heard of Dick before that evening. Before each honoree they showcased video highlights of each person's career which was very helpful seeing as I didn't know anybody or anything. Wouldn't it be great if every person you met and knew nothing about came with a video highlight you could watch prior to meeting them too?:)
The big highlight of the evening for most of the male attendees was Captain, NBA Boston Celtics; President, The Truth Fund, Paul Pierce, recipient of the Competitive Greatness Award. It was so nice to be around lots of tall men all night long!
Now I am very tall for a woman and normally tower over most men when I put on high heels (which is why I rarely wear them.) I was standing in front of a very tall guy and mentioned that fact to him too which made him smile.
I could tell he was probably someone in sports because he seemed shy like some famous people can be when they think people are schmoozing them just because of their fame. I'm not into sports and had no idea who he was which is what I told him. I could see him relax after that.
I had agreed to come simply because I like Coach Wooden and thought he'd be speaking to be honest! It was a little disappointing to learn he wouldn't be, but I enjoyed being part of this sports culture because it was completely out of my realm of experience.
I always love experiencing new things and learning about the people who make up a "sub-culture". Guess who that tall man was? Lamond Murray! He introduced Paul Pierce. Very cool. If only he wasn't married...:) (My stage pix are blurry because we were too far for my camera. As someone just attending the event and not covering it, I didn't feel right going closer.)
The final recipient of the evening was Rod Smith whose son introduced his wife to accept the Loyalty Award for his work with Say No Classic. What a cool charity. I was so impressed with everyone who received an award that night.
Now I haven't been to many sports awards shows, but this one really had heart. I don't know if they're all like this, but I loved it and hope to attend more like this.
That's all folks. Please do support HAX Foundation. It seems very well-run and really great people like Sinjin Smith are involved I believe.
They do provide visits to the HAX facility in case you're interested. Tell 'em Joy Kennelly sent you.:)
