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.
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