Last night was the first red carpet I’d hosted where I was actually a little nervous about how the interviews with the film’s stars would go, which included action stars/martial arts kings Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, and Terry Crews.

Fortunately, this was a red carpet and not a boxing ring, but if the experience would be anything like interviewing legend Muhammad Ali, I would be straining to come up with questions, clamoring for more detailed explanations than ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ and hoping to death I don’t get punched in the face for annoying the guy.

Alas, none of that happened (quite the opposite, in fact) and I had quite a lot of fun with these brawny hunks of steel.

A few behind-the-scenes tidbits:

• Sly has the prettiest daughters in the world. I’d hate to the be the guy taking his first born to prom…yikes!
• Rourke was the least amiable, but he had also admitted to only being in the film for about a day and a half and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a little worn out from all red carpet hoopla.
• Steve Austin was the incredibly genuine and not at all like the “Stone Cold” persona I would watch on TV as a kid. He’s very passionate and committed to his cross-over to acting – and I think we’ll see a lot more from this guy.
• Dolph Lundgren has a great sense of humor. Swedish, mixed nartial arts medalist, award-winning chemical engineer, handsome actor, and funny?  The guy is a genetic wonderboy.
• I forgot Randy Couture’s name, so I just introduced him as “HEYYYY!” Oops. Randy, I’m sorry. I still love you.

If you’d like to catch some of the interviews, here you are:

Thanks to MySpace and Lionsgate for bringing me on board!

For me, it was always about Lance Bass. I was so completely obsessed that I bought every issue of Teen Beat with him on the cover, posted his photos up in my locker, even flew to Chicago to see him in concert with N’Sync. And finally, ten years later, I’m interviewing him in person at the premiere of Twilight: Eclipse, where thousands of screaming girls have simultaneously gathered to (hopefully!) catch a glimpse of R-Patz, or Taylor Lautner, Kellan Lutz, or if they’re feeling rogue, Jackson Rathbone.

There’s something about the piercing screams of 9-yr olds that can make a person go crazy. But here we are, at the Eclipse premiere, and Lance Bass steps onto my platform for a live interview, and I suddenly remember. I remember what it’s like to be a young teen girl, screaming in angst, secretly hoping and praying that behind that velvet rope, your idol will lock eyes with you and know that you are the one.

Now this is all quite ironic of course, because here I am, finally meeting my first celebrity obsession, and he’s openly gay. All those years of hoping and wishing, screaming and crying, buying Teen Beat and researching his likes and dislikes, and the dude wouldn’t have wanted it anyway. (The other irony being that most of the teen girls there had no idea who Lance Bass was. Am I really that old?)

The moment passed as quickly as it came, but, for a brief second, I was 13 and giddy again.

The night, despite technical difficulties with the microphones and IFB chords, was a ton of fun. I was reunited with Jackson (who I bonded with on the set of a teen comedy we shot together several years back), and tasted some of the best brownie pudding EVER at the afterparty.

As for the red carpet, I’d interviewed Taylor Lautner before (at the Golden Globes), and so I knew to expect nothing less than a sweetheart from them, but really – every single one of those cast members is incredibly nice and open. I don’t care what some people say about Kristen Stewart – albeit awkward, she’s A DOLL and the hardest working young woman you’ll meet in Hollywood.

The best moment of the evening happened AFTER our job was over. Ali and I were given two tickets to the premiere, but since we had already been to an early screening of Eclipse, we decided to give the tickets away to two people who would treasure it most – a mom and daughter. They had been sleeping outside for 5 days just to go to the premiere, so you can only imagine the tears that came from actually receiving tickets to the film!

After all was said and done, Shira, Ali, Manny, and I made our way to the after-party which was beautifully decked out to look like a magical forest. I didn’t stay super long (three hours live is exhausting, I was ready for bed!) but we had a great time together and I literally stuffed myself with this brownie pudding stuff. Yum.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in for the live stream on MySpace, YouTube, or UStream!  If you’d like to catch a taped feed of the show, just head to UStream.tv/Twilight.

Last night I had the pleasure of hosting the Sex and the City 2 premiere at Radio City Music Hall for Warner Brothers and UStream (we streamed live here: Ustream.tv/SexAndTheCity2.) How incredible, that a show which began filming back in 1998 (I was in 8th grade!) is still going strong!

Now back to LA for more insanity – I’m off to the ‘Get Him to the Greek’ premiere this evening. Can’t wait to meet funny men Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, and PDiddy!

Here are some pics from yesterday:

Shira And I, post-premiere

Pizza + Makeup = Perfect Pre-Premiere Routine

Fitting my IFB for sound

In the feed truck

The crowd at Radio City Music Hall

So excited – just found out I’ll be hosting for the Golden Globes Post Show Party live on NBC (8pm PST) with Nick Cannon! It’s my first network hosting gig (and live!) so…THANK YOU, NBC! I’ll be doing post-show commentary and interviewing all the stars backstage after they’ve won their award.

I’ll still be hosting the red carpet pre-show for NBC.com with Julie Moran, Quddus, and Jenni Pulos. The show will also stream live on Facebook – facebook.com/goldenglobes – and UStream.tv on Sunday from 2:30pm – 5pm PST and the after-party show (also on NBC.com, Facebook, and Ustream) from 9pm-10pm PST.

That’s almost…8 hours…on camera…live. Whew! Hopefully I won’t screw up too bad ;-)

In the meantime, you guys can help me out by sending me tweets – twitter.com/tarynsouthern – with questions you’d like me to ask your favorite celebs. I’ll be looking at the Twitter feed throughout the show, and giving real-time shout outs when I can.

BUT MORE IMPORTANT THAN ALL OF THIS – everyone at NBC and Dick Clark Productions is committed to using the Golden Globes platform and audience to help the people of Haiti. I will keep you guys updated on how you can donate…but for right now, I recommend going to savehaitisaturday.com and texting BEST to 501501 to donate $5 INSTANTLY. It’s easy, and $5 from every person makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE.

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Like many of you, it feels like I’ve been hearing about Avatar for…years. James Cameron’s Avatar is one of the largest movies that Hollywood has ever made and by far the most technologically advanced – but it might just take the cake for the longest film in development – 14 years.

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Co-Host Quddus and I on the Blue Carpet

Tonight I was incredibly honored to co-host the LIVE red carpet premiere with Quddus (MTV) and Peter Saldman (EntertainmentPremieres.com) for 20th Century Fox, MySpace, and UStream.TV.

Not only did we have a blast chatting with all the key players (Sam Worthington, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, James Cameron, etc) but also with all the fans on Twitter, UStream, and MySpace! We received hundreds of questions and comments and were able to ask them directly to the stars while they were being interviewed.

I’ve attached a few pics from the event, as well as the actual live footage (it’s an hour and a half, but I just embedded the last two sections with the most interviews.)

Special thanks to my fav. red carpet photographer Byron Purvis – http://photos.purvis.tv/events – for the photos :)

ALSO – we will be sending one lucky commenter a special Avatar prize pack in the next week – but give Quddus and I through the weekend to go through the comments :) If you’d like to be in the know about more live premieres and special prizes, please follow me on twitter – www.twitter.com/tarynsouthern – to get the inside scoop before it happens!

THE SHOW:

What an evening of firsts!! Last night I hosted the Dick Clark Productions/ABC.com live stream of the American Music Awards Pre-Show. It was an hour and a half of non-stop activity…and SO much fun! Needless to say, I slept in this morning… but I thought I’d share some of the highlights of my “firsts” with you:

1. AUDIENCE – The show had the largest online streaming audience in the history of the AMA’s (and quite possibly other live streaming shows) with over 3.3 million viewers on YouTube, Facebook, and other sites carrying the AMA LIVE widget.

2. INTERVEWS – I interviewed Mary J Blige and LOVED her. I’d interviewed a lot of these folks before, either at the Grammy’s or Golden Globes, but she was a first, as well as a few others (Demi Lovato, who was a sweetheart, and Kid Cudi, who didn’t mind when I started belting out “Day and Night.”) All of the celebs on the carpet were extremely gracious and patient, because with live shows, they often have to wait until I get the green light on my feed.

3. FASHION – I made my first “worst-dressed list”, although I didn’t feel so bad when I saw that Alicia Keys, Demi Lovato, Kristin Bell, and Nicole Kidman were a few of the other victims. And might I add, at the defense of these beautiful ladies and anyone else on a Worst-Dressed List, it is often the stylist who picks the clothes, not the celebrity!

4. THE SHOW – I actually got to sit and watch the show! (Usually when you host the red carpet pre-show, you don’t get tickets.) My sister, manager, and I had amazing tickets – center orchestra – and WOW! JLo, Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Eminem, Jay Z and Alicia Keys, Timbaland – AMAZING PERFORMANCES! I’ve been to a few award shows before (People’s Choice, MTV VMA’s, etc) but this was by far my favorite!

5. Last but not least, it was the first time I actually went to an after party! Usually I’m so exhausted, I head straight home, but I enjoyed some cupcakes and wine with friends and my sister (who was in town from Kansas). THEN I passed out. :)

So that’s the rundown!! Hope you guys enjoyed the pre-show and/or the actual show. And a huge thanks to my co-hosts, Jenni Pulos, Julie Moran, Jai Rodriguez, David Lehre, as well as the Facebook Girls Randi and Brandi and web extraordinaire iJustine! You guys really held down the forts.

Here’s some photos of the evening if you’d like to check ‘em out:

I found out I was going SUPER last minute – as in, I had an audition at 4, had to be at the red carpet at 4:30, was changing and doing makeup in my car right outside the Shrine Auditorium. Needless to say, got there in time. So much fun!! A few highlights – Carrie Underwood gave an incredible performance and Ellen’s acceptance speech was my fav.