Oh, that long, long ceremony. Every year it comes up and I'm vexed by how to deal with the Oscars. Watch at home alone? Invite friends? Just ignore it? As an entertainment blogger and someone who is at least attempting to break into the industry (plus someone who is obligated to TALK about this stuff, because its an industry town) I know I have to watch. To date I've never been able to talk someone into watching it at home with me, even though I have a wonderfully flat and hi-def medium on which to view it. The dirty little secret about this town is, we're all as bored with the Oscars as the rest of America is.
In past years I've opted to view at a British pub near my house, but last year they simply cut off the first hour of the program until the Big Game was over. And that first hour has the first twenty minutes, which contains the only entertainment.
This year, I've found the perfect solution. It combines the requirement to see the whole thing with the option to keep busy when there are dull parts.
I set my iMac (which has a TV tuner from Elgato attached) to record the whole magilla. While I went out for pizza with a date, the hard drive sucked it down, in full 1080i glory. I got home and set it to whittle it down to iPhone size, so I could take it to work with me this morning. And today, instead of listening to music while I do my boring desk job, I have been watching and/or ignoring the Oscars. It's almost noon and I'm about 2/3 through.
Either George Lucas or one of his effects minions once complained that they spend a year and a half trying to make a model look like it's the size of Texas, then the movie gets onto TV and it's the size of a model again. Watching the Academy Awards on an iPhone (and sideways, to boot) has the same effect on these people but let's face it, that's exactly the perspective they need.
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We used to have parties where everyone bet money, but that fizzed out after a while. Which is a shame, 'cos I would have cleaned up this year.
ReplyDeleteI retreated into my iPod for the commercial breaks. And some of the categories. And the big musical number, which, take my word for it, works much better to Yes, Weezer and Grandmaster Melle Mel. Rang-dang ding-a-dee dang-a-dang.
The musical number was fascinating sideways. You don't realize how much... um, horizontiality an academy dance peice has until you see it as a sort of pulsating exclaimation point.
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