Academy Rewards
 

From the Des Moines Register
Friday, February 27, 2004.

Academy Rewards

No matter who takes home the little golden statues, everybody who makes it on stage at Sunday night's Academy Awards is going to win big. And we mean big. According to USA Today, every celeb who's kind enough to put up with the painful inconvenience of sharing themselves with the world as a presenter or a performer Sunday will receive a gift bag filled with goodies worth $110,000. (In the real world that's about twice what a Philadelphia police sergeant makes per year.) The bounty includes a gift certificate for a $6,000 43-inch Samsung DLP HDTV, plus a year of satellite TV; a pair of round-trip business-class tickets on Air New Zealand from L.A. to Auckland; a $1,500 steak dinner; and, to help digest that steak, there's also a $500 Krups espresso machine (probably the cheapest item in the bag).

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Damn, I wish I we're going to the Oscars.

yeah those gift bags.... i've never gotten a gift bag with any thing really extravagant... then again. I'm just a peon.

Nothing like giving the richest among us free stuff.

$1,500 steak dinner? I could eat for months on the money those celebrities will waste on a single meal. Oh, to be rich and famous...

I'll get one of those fuckin' things some day.

As in I'll clock Tom Cruise in the back of the head and take his.

Bingo, like they can't afford to get it on their own.

Every single one of those people should be given the option to donate the monetary value of their gift packs to a worthy cause.

--OR--

They worked hard for it, they earned it.


I can see it either way.

Free tickets to New Zealand? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

King, I'll distract him and his body guards for a minute while you run up behind and snatch the bag. Then, we can split it.

Maybe we could leave some of them there.

"Yes Mr. Seacrest 'one way' is the new term for first class, enjoy your flight"

I would feel sorry for all the New Zealanders who did nothing to deserve this fate... but someone needs to take him off our hands.

do you reckon everyone at the airport wishing him farewell would do a silly little salute and then chant, "Seacrest, OUT!!!!" over and over...

kinda like he was being run out of town...


i'm really curious about this $1500 steak dinner... that must be some gold plated steak they'll be getting... or maybe they'll be sucking down some Petrus while they hoe into their side of cow...
very interesting.

Everybody likes free stuff, even the filthy rich.

I wouldn't complain if I got such an awesome gift pack.

Apparently only 10% of the free trips certificates in those baskets are used. (as reported by a local newspaper) AND the hotels and resorts have to APPLY to be in the basket, AND it's for publicity so their not paid for the celeb's stay either.

So not only are the rich rich, they also get free stuff, AND they don't even use up the free stuff. Horrible. Just horrible. I want in.

Here's to hoping they give away baskets like that in the Tony's so maybe I have about a .0005% chance of ever getting one. :)

We'll bribe you ... I mean, send you foreign aid, if you keep them.

I think we'd rather not have the movie stars quite frankly :p

Unless they give me one of these gift bags, then it's all good.

i wonder what peter jackson will do with his trip to auckland.
but seriuosly, $1500 steak.

I too am curious about the $1500 steak dinner. What do they do, set a cow aside for each person so they can get the exact part they want?

I presume it's for you and several guests.

If not, it must be one large steak.

Mr Mephisto

"I never knew how much I needed a plasma tv and a $500 espresso machine until I got them for free"

Isn't it slightly ironic how the richest and most famous people in the world never have to pay for anything?

But...didn't we make 'em rich 'n famous?

pfft...$110,000 is just Joe Sixpack retail. The restaurants, airlines, etc want the publicity; either from the celebrity using their service or the name dropping in gushing or mocking newspaper articles. The jewellry trinkets are useless - diamonds are a scam anyway.

Total writeoff. If I were a celebrity I'd try putting it on eBay, though I'm sure there's some contract clause that prevents that.