At the moment, watching the Oscars on my non-cable, digital-ready tv – which was always the plan anyway, sort of – but became the reality once ABC Disney pulled the plug off its station on Cablevision.
When I visit my cable tv, it is strange to see no ABC. Kind of amazed that someone (namely, ABC – specifically WABC) found a way to look more evil than Cablevision (who needs to find a better business model than negotiating with each of the networks and stations like this and then facing the debacle of losing a station or network) and that ABC got the guts to pull this off on Oscar night.
Frankly, I dislike both Cablevision (who is still evil anyway as it is for many reasons, namely having owners who are not smart about their other products – the teams of Madison Square Garden) and ABC (well, still, I’d give them credit, they’re negotiating dirty and didn’t hold their breath about how they pulled it off, like FOX did with the college bowl games back in January). It’s all about negotiating dirty. Whether either side would get what they wanted from this – who knows.
Oh – update (as of 8:55pm) – ABC has a crawl that alerted that they just came to an agreement in principle with Cablevision and are back on Cablevision households. I checked my cable tv and that is indeed the case. I’m sticking with my non-cable tv, thanks anyway; I don’t trust it when cable companies and others control the tv, really.
Movie weekend otherwise – saw “The Hurt Locker” on Saturday – great movie!; Jeremy Renner was excellent; and the movie leaves you thoughtful about war.
Saw Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” today. 3D glasses atop of my own glasses is kind of irritating with an initial headache; otherwise, it was an okay movie; visually appealing but kind of puzzling with the story.
Although in all honesty, Alice on Syfy was just as visually exciting and creepy, but had less of the weird British stuff. Both Alices did a whole female empowerment thing, but I kept wondering if Tim Burton’s Alice could be a little less wan (so pale and hesitant, although that’s more the character than the actress) and why did she have to be so young when she originally went to Wonderland in the first place?
Plus, Tim Burton’s Alice movie was a little slow in some parts and I kept wanting more tension than just “Alice, you must fill your destiny” (really? is that all?). Tim Burton’s Cheshire Cat was creepy and helpful simultaneously. Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter wasn’t nearly as mad-insane as just mad about oppression by the vile Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter was funny and creepy).
Enjoy Oscars night!