Today's Entertainment

COVER STORY Prime slime time on Kids' Choice Awards 25th anniversary By Jacqueline Cutler © Zap2it Traditionally a 25th an- niversary calls for silver, but "The 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards" requires something gloppy and green. Yes, it's slime time! Will Smith hosts the live show Saturday, March 31, on Nickelodeon, where stars of music, movies, TV, sports and books win blimps rather than golden statues. Kids vote online, early and often, throughout March for their fa- vorites in 20 categories. What other awards show honors Michael Phelps (favorite male athlete) and "Kung Fu Panda" (favorite cartoon)? While stars are delighted to be at the Oscars, Gram- mys and Tonys, this is the awards show attendees laugh about as soon as they start talking. The "Kids' Choice Awards" is the good- time show. Cameron Diaz and Usher are regulars, attending every year they can, and have won multiple awards. Glamorous as she is, Diaz let loose with an enormous belch to win the inaugural burp award. It's the honor of which she's most proud. Diaz and Usher both say they would love to be at USC's Galen Center Satur- day. Both had other commit- ments but were happy to talk to Zap2it about why they love the "Kids' Choice Awards." Smith declined to do inter- views. "It is the kids," Diaz says. "The energy in the room is like no other place, no other awards, where you walk out onstage and you cannot hear yourself think. They are so excited and don't know how to contain themselves." "Any inhibitions you have about life, it all comes down completely," Usher says. "In life, you have to be normal. It is inappropriate to burp in public. When you are there, you can do anything." Most who are invited as presenters or nominees try to attend. This year's nominees include Usher, Lady Gaga, Tim Tebow, the Muppets, the Smurfs and Antonio Ban- deras - clearly in different categories. Jessica Alba, Tom Cruise, Kelly Kelly or Taylor Lautner will take home the KCA Blimp award for favorite buttkicker. During the 90 minutes, ex- pect good-natured, controlled pandemonium. "It is not only just for the celebrities but for the kids, the entertainment and the action," Usher says as to why the show is so popular. "The last two years have been loud for me, going to Justin Bieber concerts, and the reality of traveling all over the world, seeing screaming fans. The younger they are, the louder they are." Live performers include Katy Perry and others still to be announced at this writ- ing. Last year the Black Eyed Peas took the stage. The year before, it was Bieber and Rihanna. Over the years, Pink, Justin Timberlake, Jen- nifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Whitney Houston all per- formed during the madness that is the KCA. "We stand up on these stages and for awards, and it's all about presentation and appearance," Diaz says. "And there, it is all about kinetic energy and kids freaking out, and you get all of their good- ness blasted onto you." Diaz should know. Over her five visits to the KCA stage, she has truly gone with the flow. She was noodled - when they used to dump wet noodles on people - but for publicity photos for this year, she was slimed. "I got bah-lasted," Diaz says. "It was really, really fun. That stuff is like Jell-O pudding, vanilla pudding and some binding stuff. It is crazy! You literally cannot see. You are looking through slime - the world through slime is a very interesting world. Everything is really fuzzy and soft! "That day I got on a plane Money tied up in old furniture? Sell it in the Classifieds!!! 855-5898 1 x 5.5" ad Expressions North 2 – MARCH 25 - 31, 2012 – BRAINERD, MN/DISPATCH and went to Paris," Diaz continues. "I slept with some residue of it in my eyes, and when I got to Paris it was just like, 'Wow! There should have been more thought to this.' I needed an ice bag for my eyes, and the slime is pretty wild. It is warm." Usher says, "Getting slimed is like no experience ever in life. The closest thing to it is a food fight or an incredible house party that gets out of control, but you can't do that." "It is a very hard thing to come off," he says. "I got it all over me, but I didn't care. One of my greatest moments Usher is nominated for favorite male singer at "The 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards" Saturday on Nickelodeon. is to allow my boys to have that moment." Besides the right venue to hold the fans, Nickelodeon executives also look for an arena with a locker room and showers, says Marjorie Cohn, an executive producer of the show, who began as a line producer on the first Nick awards show in 1988, then called "The Big Ballot." "We heard from some people three days later," Cohn says. "It surfaces in places they didn't know. They're sweating slime a couple of days later. It does get into ev- ery pore." The only rule is pretty much the same as at any great kids party: Be safe and have fun. "People do come to the awards show in the best frame of mind," Cohn says. "There is no place for ego, no place for snarkiness or sarcasm in a mean sort of way. You walk onto that stage, and all you see are gi- ant amounts of kids scream- ing your name with such joy and abandonment, and your brain is washed free of all expectation." 1 x 4" ad Disability Specialist 2 x 4" ad Lakes States Bank

• Cover