The art of the mingle

IN golf, they tell you to keep your head down, but when it comes to awards show mingling, the opposite holds true: Keep your head up or risk missing a celebrity walk-by.

While waiting for an awards show to start, you can get neck strain from watching everyone else peer over other people’s shoulders to see if there’s someone more important nearby. Don’t take it personally -- you’re looking past them too.

But even if you’re not attention-worthy, you still rate a good time. Some suggestions:

* Arrive early and have a drink at the open bar to fortify yourself for a long night of dull speeches. But not too early; you don’t want to be so sloshed that you tip over in your seat.

* Stake out a good position in the lobby, one that enables you to watch the stars as they move through the gantlet. Just listening to the screams from the media and the masses -- Julia! George! Jack! Borat! -- will make you feel like you are in a Fellini movie.

* Chat up “below-the-line� types. If you really want to know what went down on a film, ask the makeup coordinator.

* During the ceremony, hang out around the bathrooms -- it feels like cutting class, with celebrities as your codelinquents. And who knows? You could witness a Christine Lahti Golden Globes moment.

-- Richard Nordwind