84th Academy Awards – ‘Best Original Song’

Reference: SchutzHappens Day 948

Nominees:

·         "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie

·         "Real in Rio" from Rio – Sérgio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett

When it comes to the Oscars I really get spun up about the little things… and ‘Best Original Song’ is one of those categories that consistently ticks me off and gets me spun up the most.

As referenced in the above link (from my other blog), I have sounded off on this before so I won’t rehash my entire argument now, but to make a long story short, if a song is produced just to play while the credits roll, it has no place at the Oscars.  That’s just my personal opinion.

That said, the official statement from the music branch of the Academy is as follows:

“Unlike other categories, song nominees are determined by voting members of the music branch who watch sections of films where songs are played and nothing else. Since instituted, it has resulted in performance clips and animated songs being nominated but no end credit or background songs.”

Awesome!  That sounds awesome music branch… and it looks even better on paper!

Honestly, I have no idea when they instituted this methodology, but it has to be within the last 10 years.  Remember, back in 2003 and 2004, Eminem and Annie Lenox won for their ‘credit rollers’ at the end 8 Mile and LOTR: Return of the King. 

Anyway, I’m going to give the music branch an ‘A’ for effort this year… because it’s been a while since I’ve seen a ‘credit roller’ on the ballot and with only two nominees for Best Original Song this year, their voting practices are being questioned… and they are backing it up!

Again, I don’t know when the rules were changed, but apparently the music branch is allowed to nominate up to five songs each year… however, their byelaws for the category maps out a much more stringent criteria.

You see, when adjudicating song nominations each voting member of the music branch is asked to give each nominee a score from 1 to 10; 10 being the best.  In order to be eligible for a nomination, a song MUST earn, at least, an average score of 8.5. 

And according to the byelaws of this category, if no song receives an average score of 8.5 or more, then there will be no nominations and the award will not be given out that year.  Although this has never happened, the byelaws also cover a very interest contingency rule that many suspect is playing, as we speak, for the very first time:

What happens when only one song earns the right for the nomination?

Well, in the case of only one eligible song, a courtesy nomination is given to the, technically ineligible, second place song.

So, as you can imagine, with only two nominations this year and heavy hitters like Elton John, Madonna, Pink, and Zooey Deschanel being snubbed… critics can’t help but suspect that there is only one eligible song!  And it looks like this could be a VERY good year for the Muppets.

EGOTing Pick:  "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie

The Challenge of Oscars Overseas – Part 3: Golden Globes Success!

REF:  The Challenge of Oscars Overseas Part 1 & 2

I know there is a lot to talk about, especially with the Oscar Nominations coming out this morning, however, I’ll probably spend the next month analyzing each nominee and category one by one, and so for today I thought I would finish up my story about having ‘Bad Oscar Karma’ (as if it is a story that I could actually finish)… because things are starting to look up a bit.

I actually meant to post about my successful viewing of the Golden Globes last week, but the very next day (after the telecast) I came down with something, possibly a mild case of Dengue Fever (I’m being serious) and have been laid up in bed until today.  Anyway, I’m feeling good and with the Oscar Nominations this morning I’m in pretty good spirits.

So, you’re probably wondering, “How in the world did you watch the Golden Globes in Suriname?”

Well, despite my tirade against AFN DTS last week, they didn’t not change their mind and stuck to their original plan of airing 1 of the 112 basketball/hockey games schedule for the week, rather than airing the once a year Golden Globes.

So, I really only had two options:  the first of which was the most logical (but rather annoying); while the second was not expected to work (by anyone) yet did, miraculously. 

Option 1:  Go to a friend’s house and watch their American stations on their South American DirectTV. 

Okay… sure… this is totally a logical solution.  And with this option available, it’s probably not worth complaining about.  However, there are two issues at play with Option 1.

First:  In my line of work, it is very difficult to find someone who cares as much about this movie award garbage as I do.  And personally, I can’t stand going to ‘viewing’ parties, mainly because they are more like a party with very little actual viewing going on… and I want to view!  So I’m never very excited about going to other people’s houses to watch the Golden Globes or Oscars.

Second:  Paramaribo, Suriname is two hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, which meant the Golden Globe telecast didn’t start until 10pm… and it easily lasted until after 1am our time.  So… asking someone, who could care less about the Globes, to let me come over and watch their TV until who knows when, on a school night, would have been quite the imposition.  And that imposition is why I took a gamble on Option 2… as a trial run for the Oscars.

Option 2: www.ustvnow.com

So, I’ve used this website a number of times, however I’ve only used them in a location where I’ve had sufficient bandwidth, enough for streaming.  This is actually how I watched both awards shows and the Super Bowl while in Pakistan last year… where I had an amazing internet connection.

However, in Paramaribo, I do not have an amazing internet connection.  I have very little bandwidth.  I can’t even watch low quality youtube videos without a serious amount of lag and significant streaming delays. 

In addition, I had been previously unsuccessful in getting ustvnow.com to work in Suriname… however on the morning of the Golden Globes, when I gave it one last college try, it worked… at least it kind of worked. 

About every 5 or 15 minutes the screen would freeze for about 5 to 15 seconds, but instead of jumping ahead, skipping those seconds, when it caught-up, like I’ve experienced with a poor satellite connection, ustvnow.com actually picked-up from where it left off; even when it froze in the middle of an acceptance speech.

Sure it was jarring at times… but I never missed a second of the action.  It was awesome!  And it looks like I’ll be able to watch the Oscars after all!  Good Oscar Karma, right?  Well, you can never be so sure… strange things happen every day…

Like today…

CNN-International actually aired the Nominations Announcement live this morning at 10:30am (my time).  I have a TV in my office, so I was totally stoked.  However, two awards into the announcement some guy on temporary duty stopped by my office and got rather chatty.  I tried my best to be polite and engage him in conversation, however I was obviously preoccupied and honestly, it got to the point that I couldn’t concentrate on anything; neither my guest nor the nominations.  And by the time he left, the announcement was over and I had to go online to get the information I missed.

Sadly, today was a pretty slow day at work and I only had about three people visit my office all day… and of course, due to my Bad Oscar Karma… someone came to visit during the one 15-minute block I wanted to be alone. 

Erg… next year I’ll have to remember to shut the door to my office.

The Challenge of Oscars Overseas – Part 2

Despite my previous brushes with Oscar disaster, I really thought 2012 would be different.

Now in Paramaribo, Suriname I’ve been pretty excited.  My house was set-up with AFN prior to my arrival and everything was looking good… however, as I’ve prepared for the Golden Globes, I’ve run into a pretty major problem.

You see, I don’t actually get the REAL 10 channel AFN, with dedicated stations for family programming, movies, sports and that sort of stuff.  No, I don’t get the REAL 10 channel AFN that comes with two stations dedicated to showing the best of Primetime programming, to include live events like major sporting events, parades, and awards shows.  No… I don’t get the REAL AFN because Suriname is outside the AFN satellite’s footprint.

Instead I get this sickly 3 channel version of AFN called ‘Direct to Sailor’ (dubbed ‘DTS’)… now in theory, when you look at the channels I actually get (News, Sports, and Primetime) you wouldn’t think it’s much of an issue… however, I recently found out that these channels don’t actually mirror the programming found on their REAL AFN counterpart stations.

You see, while the REAL AFN Atlantic Coast Primetime feed will be showing the Golden Globes live this Sunday night… the seemingly fake DTS version of the Atlantic Coast Primetime feed will be showing a hockey game: the New York Rangers vs. the Montreal Canadians.  And following that… they will be airing a basketball game: Warriors vs. Pistons.

Also, keep in mind, DTS also has a dedicated sports station that will be airing the Giants/Packers (NFL) game, followed by the Suns/Spurs (NBA) game.

Ummm… okay… really?

Okay, I’m a sports fan, I get it… well, actually I am an NFL fan, a league where each team only plays once a week for a total of sixteen games.  Plus the NFL is currently running their playoffs.  I get that.

But what really gets under my skin is the fact that random NHL and NBA games are preempting the Golden Globes, and eventually the Oscars, on my only outlet for watching them, the Primetime station!

Listen, both the NHL and NBA don’t start their playoffs until April.  Plus, in both leagues every team play an 82 freaking game season!  Even with this year’s NBA lockout delaying the start of the season until Christmas, they’re still going squeeze out a 66 games apiece!

So, let’s do the math… hmm… number of games divided by length of season equals, on average, 3.76 games per team/per week… and since both leagues have 30 teams… that gives us the possibility of 15 NHL and 15 NBA match-ups at any given time, so… if we run THOSE numbers (15+15)*3.76 = 112.8 NHL and NBA games per week. 

Hmmm… I… umm… really?!?

When there are 112.8 (non-playoff) games per week… why in the world are you preempting once a year programming?  I don’t get it… I really don’t get it. 

ERG!

Sigh.

The Challenge of Oscars Overseas – Part 1

So far, I don’t feel like I’ve done a very good job connecting with EGOTing on a personal level.  Sure, I talk about my personal feelings about various movies and things… but the truth is this:  I connect to movies and awards at a very deep level… I’m not sure why… I just do.  I obsess and salivate uncontrollably during Oscar season. 

I am so controlling over my Oscar experience that I don’t even like hosting or attending Oscar parties… which is something my wife doesn’t understand at all.  I don’t know… I just don’t enjoy sharing my Oscar experience with ‘non-believers’… I find them distracting and this is all so deeply personal to me that I like to keep my viewing very intimate… and well… over the last four years… ever since I moved overseas for work, my viewing of the Oscars has been more intimate that I would like… so intimate in fact that a better description would actually be “nonexistent”.

Sigh.

Yeah… it’s pretty depressing.  Back in 2009 I had just arrived in Belgrade and didn’t have my television set-up yet.  So for the first time since I was a small boy, I missed watching the Oscar telecast.  I had to monitor the awards as IMDB posted the results live.  It was certainly not a very enjoyable experience.

Then in 2010, while still in Belgrade, my Oscar experience was so bad that it spawned a series of four posts on my other blog, SchutzHappens:

Day 598: Oscar Coverage – My Triumph? Or My Defeat?

Day 599: Oscar Coverage – Recording Attempt 1… FAIL!

Day 600: Oscar Coverage – Recording Attempt 2… FAIL!

Day 601: Oscar Coverage – Recording Attempt 3…

Gearing up for the 2011’s telecast I thought I had all of my bases covered, I really did.  But then the unthinkable happened:

Day 953: Bad Oscar Karma… Again  

Sigh. 

And I hate to say it… but 2012 isn’t looking any better… but more about that tomorrow.

Trailer Triple Play – ‘Rock of Ages’, ’21 Jump Street’, and ‘I’m Not a Hipster’

‘Rock of Ages’

Before you pass judgment, this movie is based on a Broadway Musical that was nominated for five Tony Awards… umm… they did win any… but that doesn’t mean this movie isn’t going to be Hilarious!

’21 Jump Street’

Again, don’t pass judgment… yet.  I just think Jonah hill is hilarious and I’d probably watch anything he makes.  Plus, Johnny Depp is supposed to make a cameo… so that makes it worth checking out.

‘I’m Not a Hipster’

I don’t really know why I am drawn to this movie, but I think it looks great.  It could suck… but I hope it doesn’t.